This is my second installment of the Battousai's Apprentice story. This one is an original story. Since Kenshin's apprentice had little to no part in Yahiko and Sanosuke's arrival at the dojo I decided to jump ahead to when they're already friends with Kenshin and the others. I hope that you enjoy it.
The dojo felt less empty with the addition of Miss Kaoru's latest student; Yahiko Myojin training almost everyday. Though he was only twelve years old he was determined to learn Kamiya Kasshin style above all else.
The second of our new friends was Sanosuke Sagara, a hit man formerly known as Zanza who had been hired to kill Kenshin-sensei. However he realized the error of his ways after he was defeated and currently hangs around the dojo, much to Miss Kaoru's discontent.
The day began as any other, Miss Kaoru was training Yahiko, who continued to complain about how I was being trained in Hiten Mitsurugi while Kenshin refused to teach anyone else. Sanosuke, or Sano as he came to be called, was off in town gambling despite Kaoru's words on the evils of gambling.
Kenshin-sensei made sure that we pulled our own weight doing chores around the dojo. He would often times do the laundry, leaving me to the sweeping.
After several hours Kenshin-sensei and myself decided to rest, sitting down upon a stump outside the dojo.
"Whew I am famished," I said, clutching my growling stomach. "I wonder what Miss Kaoru has cooked up for us today."
"Indeed, I would enjoy a nice fish right now that I would," Kenshin replied smiling. "I know! We can have a nice meal at the Akabeko, I am sure that would agreed upon by everyone."
"Except Miss Kaoru," I replied, my face contorting into a frown. "She wont be happy being the only one that has the money to pay for a meal."
Kenshin's face darkened, knowing the pain of Miss Kaoru's wrath first hand.
Fortunately Miss Kaoru was thrilled with the idea, believing it would be a good spirit boost; however she refused to pay for Sano, as he already had quite a running tab at the Akabeko. Oddly enough Miss Tae, the owner, never pressured him to pay it, seeing as she added interest the longer he took.
Dr. Gensai was happy to watch over the dojo with his granddaughters as everyone left for town.
The Akabeko wasn't a large restaurant by any means, however its owner Miss Tae made the place quite homely and we would never dream of going anywhere else.
"Wow!" Yahiko shouted as we sat around a pot of beef ramen. "I guess some women are nice despite how ugly they are." This remark earned him a smack in the face courtesy of Miss Kaoru.
Yahiko always thought of Miss Kaoru as ugly no matter what she did, personally I had thought the boy was either dumb or blind…or possibly both.
"This is wonderful Miss Tae," I said, wolfing down another helping of noodles. "You truly outdo yourself with these meals."
"Why thank you kindly," she said, bowing as she turned to tend to the other guests.
Miss Tae worked considerably hard, yet seemed to love doing it. She always found a way to be able to run the whole restaurant almost single handedly.
"Woman!" shouted a large middle aged man from a nearby booth. "More food!"
Miss Tae shuffled over to the booth, leaning over to speak with the man.
"Sir, I'm afraid that you haven't paid your bill in quite a while sir, and you will…Ah!" She gasped as his hand fell upon a hidden dagger at his side.
"You're lucky I am in a good mood," he said, his hand still on his dagger.
"You are lucky sir," came a voice from his other side. "Had you fully drawn that weapon you would have had to deal with me."
"What'd you say," he said, turning to face the new man, drawing his knife at the same time.
Only he discovered he could not draw it, for the palm of a hand had swiftly moved in the way and held the dagger in its sheath.
I stood next to him, holding his weapon at bay.
"If you draw that weapon you may injure innocent people around here, and I will not permit you to do so," I said, calmly holding his dagger back as he struggled to free it.
"Why you little brat," he said, his face flaming red from anger and too much sake. "I'm going to make you pay…huh?" Upon looking up he saw Kenshin-sensei, as well as Sano standing behind me, giving him rather threatening glares.
"Yo...you'll be sorry for this," he shouted. Jumping to his feet the man threw a series of coins onto the futon, rushing out the door in fear, dropping his knife on the ground as he ran.
"Well now thank you all," Miss Tae said, collecting the payment the man had left in his wake. "That's the third time this week some guy with a weapon has come in here thinking he owns the place, getting to the point I'm afraid to collect peoples tabs anymore, cept from you Mr. Sano," she finished, smiling eerily at Sanosuke.
"What you need little missy is some security," Sano piped in, picking up the man's fallen knife, snapping it in two before throwing it's remains into a nearby barrel.
"But where could I find someone willing to work here who could protect the place," Miss Tae said, looking defeated.
"I could do it," I said, barely above a whisper. Miss Kaoru choked on her noodles, gagging.
"You?" she asked. "All you do is sit around the dojo all day after you do some sweeping, which you don't do so well."
Ignoring her last comment I continued talking. "It's perfect, I can work here and earn some money so that I wont have to rely so much on Miss Kaoru, and Miss Tae wont have to worry about the random ruffians that come through. If that's alright with you sensei."
Kenshin simply smiled approvingly. "I think that it's a great idea that I do. A little humility is always good for you. There will always be plenty of time for your training when you aren't working."
"O that's wonderful!" Miss Tae shouted, wrapping me in a bear hug, crushing my ribs. "You can start first thing tomorrow, don't be late," she finished as she returned to the other guests.
"That was very mature of you," Miss Kaoru added as they finished their meal. "Miss Tae is so hard working; it'll be nice for her to have some help around here."
"Yea, too bad you'll have to wear the uniform to go with the job," Yahiko smirked, causing Sano and himself to fall over laughing.
"Uniform?" I asked quickly, now fearful of what I had sown.
The next day I reported at the start of the day as Miss Tae had said, to find a terrible sight.
"WH….WHAT is that?" I shouted, pointing at the horrific object in Miss Tae's hands.
"Why this is your uniform silly," she said, presenting me with the exact same type of white frilly apron she is always seen wearing.
"You…you must be joking," I stuttered, my eyes wide with fear, however it was no joke.
My reverse-blade sword was placed in the kitchen when I worked, so that it would not scare the customers as Miss Tae had suggested. The Akabeko was packed that day, dozens of customers coming and going, without so much of a single incident.
The customers were incredibly polite, and took a liking to my presence around the restaurant very quickly. I spent much of the day rushing due to lost time having small chats with the kind customers.
"So you think that adding some extra spice to my miso soup might bring out the flavor?" an elderly man asked me, believing me to be an expert cook.
"Well," I started, unsure as to how I should answer. "My sensei likes to add spices when he makes miso soup…so it might not be the best course of action to take." The two of us shared a laugh at my master's expense.
Back at the dojo Kenshin-sensei sneezed.
If Miss Tae had worked fast before, she was motoring today; with a helping hand she had considerably less of a workload on herself, giving her more energy…if that were possible.
"More water for the front booth," she shouted, shooting out orders left and right. "And don't forget their order of beef!"
It took everything I had to keep up with her, the thought of how she could do this alone truly amazed me as I worked.
Thankfully the day came to an end as the last of the regular customers left, night had already fallen and the moon hung high in the sky.
I stifled a yawn as I balanced half dozen empty trays in my hands, heading towards the back.
"Alright honey once you get those stowed in the kitchen you can head on back to the dojo," Miss Tae said as she swept all the dust out the door.
"Thank you Miss Tae," I shouted as I disappeared into the kitchen.
Miss Tae turned her attention back to her sweeping, finally getting it outside.
As she sat down to fix her sandal a huge silhouette stood over her, obscuring the moonlight. Gazing up she recognized who it was.
It was the man from yesterday; he had an exceptionally long sword on his back. Five men with wooden swords stood behind him; they all had daggers hanging from their belts.
One of them lifted her up by her collar, throwing her back inside the Akabeko.
"Seems like you've done well for today ma'am," he said, his last worked coming out almost forcefully. "But I don't take kindly to being humiliated in public like that, especially in my establishment."
"This place isn't yours," Miss Tae stuttered, getting a laugh out of the man.
"No but it soon will be, as members of the Bakuto it is getting increasingly difficult to find a good gambling hall that the police wont find, just last week we heard that a gambling hall across town had been taken out by some wanna be samurai. I was planning to simply buy you out after my meal but after that little stunt yesterday I think that I'll just force you out...permanently"
One of the men approached her; she covered her face futile in defense.
Before he could touch her, however, an object came flying through the air, striking the would-be killer in the face, knocking him out the door.
The object was an empty meal tray.
"I wouldn't advise harming Miss Tae," came a voice from the kitchen, it was Derek. He had retrieved his sword from the kitchen, wearing it proudly at his side.
"Derek-kun!" She shouted, rushing to my side.
"Not you again kid," the boss said, lighting a cigar in his mouth. "You may have scared me off yesterday, but I got backup today." He motioned for the four remaining men behind him to advance on me.
"If we fight in here the place may be damaged, and I do care greatly for this place," I said, stepping forward slowly.
The men rushed me, in the confined space they could only come two at a time.
Picking up the discarded tray I held it in front of me, I rushed the men in response. Unprepared for my attack as the tray rammed into them the men fell backwards, as I kept up the pressure they were eventually pushed out the door into the street.
Staggering to his feet the boss unslung the unusually long sword from his back (called a Choken), keeping it sheathed he approached me slowly.
"I don't know who you are kid, but you're reach can't match my Kage-ryu…HA!!" he rushed me, his long sword still sheathed at his side.
As he got within his reach, remaining outside of mine, he drew his sword, swinging it using increased momentum from the draw to slice me in two.
When the sword swung my way I was no longer there.
"Huh?" the boss asked, his men behind him dumbfounded as well. "Where'd he go?"
"Your technique was excellent," came a voice from above. Looking up he saw that I had leapt out of the way of his sword and onto the roof of the Akabeko. "However against the god-like speed I have achieved from master's training it is completely useless."
Leaping off the roof I drew my sword at last, aiming for the boss's right shoulder. "Hiten Mitsurugi style! Ryutsuisen!" With a deafening crack my blade made contact.
The boss's eyes went white with pain, passing out and collapsing to the ground.
"B...Boss?" one of his men asked hesitantly, approaching his employers unconscious form. "O man he doesn't pay us enough for this," with that he turned to run.
Not looking what was behind him the man ran headfirst into an awaiting fist, knocking him out cold.
The remaining three turned to face this new threat, the street that way was blocked by a tall man wearing an open white shirt, a small kid stood at his side holding a wooden sword.
"Yahiko! Sanosuke!" I calmly called out to them. "It is good to see you."
"Glad you left us some action kid," Sano said with a wide grin on his face, cradling his fist hoping to punch someone else.
Knowing they were outmatched the men turned to run the other way; however their exit was cut off once again.
Upon the other side stood Kenshin-sensei, Miss Kaoru along with the chief of police standing at his side, with an entire squad of police officers behind them.
The last of the thugs immediately fell to their knees, allowing themselves to be arrested as the police rounded up their unconscious cohorts.
"Thank you Mr. Himura," The captain of the police said, saluting to Kenshin. "For assisting in the apprehension of these men."
"How did you know?" I asked Kenshin, sheathing my sword as I approached him.
"We were coming over to see you home that we were," he replied. "However we heard the ruckus and decided to inform the police.
"And you didn't think to come and help?" I asked, slightly hurt that they didnt't think to help.
"Not at all, I had complete faith in you to handle the situation yourself; we simply got the police to ensure that none escaped punishment for their crimes."
"Thank you…sensei," I replied, bowing in respect.
The moment was interrupted by rather loud snickering coming from Yahiko and Sano, they could not contain themselves.
Wondering what was so funny I looked down, immediately embarrassed.
During the entire fight, I had neglected to remove my Akabeko uniform; I was still wearing the apron Miss Tae had given me.
At last Sano and Yahiko could no longer help themselves, they fell over laughing hysterically.
"You two!!" I shouted, lunging atop Yahiko swinging wildly. As I stepped back from his comically beaten form I turned towards Sanosuke.
"O Saaanoooo…" I said in a creepy sing song voice, his eyes went white.
"Now now Derek," he said, inching his way down the street. "Don't be hasty." With that he turned and blasted down the street, with me in hot pursuit.
As we raced down the streets of Tokyo leaving the Akabeko in our dust Miss Tae timidly stepped out of the restaurant, to find a chuckling Kenshin and Kaoru.
"Such a nice boy," she said, watching me chase Sanosuke down the street. "But he forgot to let me pay him for his work today."
Kenshin and Kaoru sweat dropped.
As they all returned to the dojo nobody saw a tall man hiding behind a building, watching them go. His face was hidden by a wide hat, he wore a light greenish robe, though they were hidden his eyes were gleaming.
"So, battousai the manslayer has returned," he whispered, before disappearing into the shadows.
Bakuto- group of Yakuza syndicate specializing in gambling despite the fact it was illegal at the time
Kage-ryu sword art designed in 15th century Japan. It specializes in using Battojutsu with unusually long swords called Choken.
I hope you all enjoyed my second story, the Jinei arc is coming up next, and I'll try not to keep you waiting.
Next Episode: Arrival of the killer known as Kurogasa