"Oooohhhh! Wha' happened?" Xander managed to force from his mouth as consciousness returned to him.
He could tell within the first few seconds that he was not at the Bronze and given how comfy the couch he was laying on was he figured he had to be at Buffy's house. Either that or they had taken him to the nearest furniture store and had him laid out on one of the couches in the living/rec room section. Opening his eyes he found himself looking into a beautiful brown eyes that seemed to like his brown eyes as well. Then again maybe he was being challenged to a staring contest right away but that seemed unlikely. As he regained his full senses he soon realized that it was the young Japanese girl he had helped at the Bronze. Once that fact clicked in the rest of them came as well including the part about seeing a bokken coming down towards his head followed immediately by unconsciousness. From there simple process of elimination told him who had hit him as there couldn't have been that many people at the dance with a bokken on them. Pushing himself into a sitting position as the young woman backed away and sat on the floor Xander looked about the room for the culprit who was most certainly here. Ken'ichi was sitting in one of the larger chairs in the Summers' living room looking only a little sorry for what he did with the rest of him refusing to admit he did anything wrong. This ticked Xander off because it was he himself who hadn't done anything wrong and he remembered Ken'ichi's cousin even saying that herself.
So he decided to let the arrogant wannabe samurai know it too.
"Ken'ichi! What was the big idea hitting me like that?" Xander yelled before being forced to hold his forehead in an attempt to force the pain back down.
"You were kissing my Cousin gaijin! She couldn't have been in town for more than a day so there's no way you could be dating one another!" , Ken'ichi replied in an attempt to make it look as though it was all Xander's fault, "Even if you did somehow become boyfriend and girlfriend its much too early for that kind of kissing! Besides if a wimpy gaijin like you can't take a light tap like that than you're even weaker than I thought!"
"Ken'ichi! That not light tap! You might 'ave put him in hospital with your attack!" , the Japanese girl said angrily, "You say sorry right NOW or I tell you kaasan when we get home!"
That apparently hit the mark as the Japanese teenager's eyes widened and it looked as though he was about five seconds from begging his sister not to tell his parents before he stopped himself from saying something so unmanly and shameful. With a growl he turned and looked at Xander as if blaming him once again for what he now had to do.
"I'm sorry I hit you with my bokken Xander." , Ken'ichi said as though the words were causing him great pain, "But if you so much as look at Megumi the wrong way again you'll feel my bokken hit you in a place a lot more important to a man than his head!"
"Ken'ichi! Ahou! That not apology!" , Megumi yelled with fire in her eyes as she glared at her cousin before turning back to Xander, "Gomen nasai! Ken'ichi not mean to be ahou. He just very proud 'cause his clan come from long line of great samurai."
Xander's anger at Ken'ichi lessened somewhat at that. He could understand pride and how hard it could be for some people to say the real important things whether it be a simply 'I am sorry' or something more intimate. For him personally it was to reveal anything about his home life to his friends. Willow only knew because he had once escaped to her place after his father had beat on him for an hour. Even with that one incident the redhead didn't know just how bad things were at the Harris household and he hoped she never would. So he could see where Ken'ichi was coming from, sort of, but he still thought the guy went overboard by clobbering him with a bokken. In any case though this whole scenario seemed to be stressing Megumi out so he figured it'd be best not to draw it out anymore.
"I guess it's alright. This is a student exchange program after all and there were bound to be a few misunderstandings along the way. Though to tell you the truth I thought it would happen when I tried to say something to him in Japanese not when I kissed his cute cousin trying to saver her from a pair of cock-jocks." Xander said with his carefree lopsided smile.
Megumi smiled at him calling her cute and Ken'ichi looked like he was glad the whole 'say you are sorry' mess was over with.
"Well since it's obvious I missed the end of the dance I think I'll head home now and try to sleep off this concussion." , Xander replied as he got up from the Summers' couch, "I'll just go change back to my clothes."
"No! You keep those!" , Megumi declared firmly with a fair imitation of Willow's resolve face, "Is part of Ken'ichi's apology. B'sides he not want to wear parents' gift anyway."
"Um, okay." , Xander said as he took a brief look downwards at the outfit in question, "Although I'm not sure how many opportunities I'm going to have to wear something like this."
"I'm sure you'll think of something gaijin." Ken'ichi said sarcastically as he leaned back and enjoyed the comfort of the chair he was in.
Given the look that Megumi was sending her cousin at the moment he figured that now was about the right time to get out of there and head home. Obviously Megumi and Ken'ichi were the type of relatives that while they hated each other they would also do anything to keep the other safe. Still he figured it would be better not to be in range of any near misses or statements that ended in 'Xander what do you think' just to be one the safe side. Therefore once he had retrieved his clothing from the guest room upstairs, pleased to find that apparently Mrs. Summers had washed them, he strolled out the front door and began his journey home. He knew he should have changed into his normal American clothes but for some reason he couldn't be bothered with taking the time to do so. Besides which he figured a large number of the other students from the costume dance probably walked home in their costumes as well so he wouldn't exactly stand out. He had almost come to the first turn on his pre-planned route home when screams tore the silence of the night asunder and sent a chill down his spine.
A moment of indecision about going to help, caused by what he was wearing, lasted only a moment before he ran off in the direction of the scream. It was just his luck not only to get clobbered by Buffy's exchange student from Japan but also come within range of a vamp attack causing his White Knight complex to kick in. He knew that was how Buffy and Willow saw some of his attempts to help out in the slaying and he had to admit that to a degree it was true. He really couldn't stop himself from helping out someone in trouble especially if it was someone who stood no chance of winning without help. He of course blamed it on his parents. After the numerous beatings he went through growing up he never wanted anyone else to have to go through something like that and would do whatever it took to protect them. Add to that the desire to become a better man than his father could ever hope of becoming. So much better that no one would ever associate Tony Harris with him and stand in complete disbelief if anyone told them that they were father and son.
It didn't take him long to arrive at the source of the screams but when he saw what was going on he froze.
He had come into this situation believing that he'd be fighting vampires but the ones doing the killing were most certainly not vampires but rather humans. What caused him to freeze though were the weapons that were being used and the way they were being used. An Asian family was being chased down the street by a group of ten men all wielding weapons that were at least a century out of date. Swords, spears, bludgeoning weapons and daggers were in their hands and as he watched one man who was not as swift as the rest of the group had a sword buried from his shoulder down to his stomach. As he watched this scene an incomprehensible fear and dread came over him, as if he somehow knew how this would end. This was confirmed as another man took a spear to the back of the head in a truly gruesome sigh but one that did not surprise Xander in the least since he had known in his soul what the man's fate was to be. It was then that he shook himself out of this frozen state determined to put a stop to this before any more lives were lost. The feelings that began to take hold of him were consuming his will, driving him to action no matter the odds.
Looking right and left for a weapon he noticed a metal rod roughly the length of his arm sticking out of a house's trash can and quickly pulled it out. Gripping one end with both hands he charged the group of men as fast as he could praying that if they failed to take notice of him until he was already in the thick of things he might have a chance. He was less than ten feet away from the bandit at the rear of the pack when the man in question seemed to hear him and turn around but by then it was too late for him. With a powerful swing he slammed the rod into the trailing bandit's head hard knocking the man out instantly and perhaps giving him a concussion in the process. As Xander turned away from the fallen man his eyes fell upon a sight that seemed to be composed of two images instead of just one. Slightly ahead of the group of bandits a woman seemed to be struggling to increase her speed. However the men behind her were much faster and before he could even shout out a warning the lead man ruthlessly speared her through the back and tossed her aside as if she were no more than a sack of flour. However as the fact was being committed a ghost-like image seemed to be superimposed on top of the woman. Instead of modern clothes and hairstyle the woman seemed to wear clothes more commonly worn by Japanese women over a century ago in Japan. Even her hairstyle seemed to match that time period but before he could think more on it the image of the past vanished and he could only watch a woman in American clothes fall to the ground. This sight only spurred Xander on further and it was due to this increase of speed that he was heard by the man now at the rear of the group of bandits causing him to turn and stop to confront the Zeppo.
Their respective weapons met just a few feet away from the woman who had been speared through the back and while most of his attention was on his opponent Xander could still hear her last words before she died.
"Save him! Save Shinta! Save him ple-ease!"
It touched him that in her dying moments her only thoughts were of saving someone that for some reason Xander was sure was a little boy. As a sudden increase in pressure from his enemy trying to push Xander back became noticeable the Zeppo pushed such thoughts from his mind and focused only on defeating these murderers as quickly as he could. Deciding to use his enemy's aggression to his advantage Xander ceased pushing back on the man's sword and slipped to the left at the same time. This took the bandit by surprise causing him to stumble forward and this is when Xander struck slamming his metal rod down on the back of the man's neck. The founding member of the Scooby gang didn't even flinch as the audible crack of bone breaking reached his ears before he ran towards the remaining bandits. In the time it had taken him to deal with two of the killers the remaining eight had apparently cornered the five remaining family members including a boy just as he had inferred from the dying woman's statement. He didn't know if the five family members had been injured in some way and were unable to run anymore or if they were simply out of shape. In any case their one defense against the crooks was now gone and the time Xander had to deal with the murderers and save the family was cut down drastically. He now knew he had to deal with the remaining men in the first few swings of his metal rod or by the time he took down five of the remaining eight men every member of the family would be dead.
"Hey Shitheads! Why don't you pick on someone who can actually fight back?" he yelled hoping name calling and challenging them would draw them towards him and away from the family.
This sort of worked as it drew four of the remaining eight killers his way but the remaining four stayed with the family. Still given the situation the smart mouthed high school student knew better than to complain considering they all could have ignored him and focused in their prey for the night. It did put him in a bit of a spot but he hoped that these guys would be cocky enough that they'd just come at him one at a time. If they attacked him all at once he'd be lucky to last a minute much less defeat them and go after the remaining four.
As if in answer to his wish the four men took up positions to prevent him from getting around them to the family and then the second one from the left stepped forward with a short sword in his hand. Deciding to take the aggressive position the Zeppo went on the attack slamming his rod into the short sword intent on batting it out of the man's hands and then bashing the rod into something vital. Unfortunately the man seemed to see this coming and offered no resistance to the rod when it make contact with the short sword which put Xander off balance. Seeing that the bandit allowed his short sword to twist under Xander's rod and turned it into a slash aimed at the Scooby's chest. It was dumb luck that Xander was able to move far enough out of the path of the blade as he did but he still ended up receiving a nasty gash across his chest. Serious enough to draw blood and cause pain but not deep enough to hit bone or damage the internal organs. Hopping backwards a few steps in order to rethink his strategy he found the fates turning against him as his opponent followed him instead of giving him the time he needed to recover. The killer lashed out with another slash intending to give the bleeding one on Xander's chest a friend to keep it company.
Just then a whisper in the back of his mind seemed to be screaming at him to dodge backwards and in the opposite direction of his attacker's swing. With fear inspired by the gash in his chest and not having any other good ideas on hand he did as the voice commanded. Almost as though he and his attacker had choreographed the scene beforehand Xander smoothly slid out of the way of his enemy's attack and into a prime position to attack. So surprised was he by this turn of events he almost didn't take advantage of the opportunity he had been given but just as the murderer was about to bring his guard up Xander hammered the rod into the man's sword arm. Bone broke causing the man to howl in pain but the howl was quickly cut off as Xander grabbed the rod by both ends and slammed the pipe into his attacker's throat. This crushed the man's larynx sending him gagging backwards as he struggled to breath before finally falling over unconscious. This unfortunately had the effect of making his remaining three attackers re-evaluate his threat level though and this time he was forced to come up against two of them at once.
This is getting seriously not good! Xander thought as he struggled vigorously to block and dodge the attacks sent at him by the two bandits.
It was hard enough to deal with one of these trained thugs and come out on top! To try and deal with two at the same time was going to make victory almost impossible and survival highly unlikely. These bandits were looking more and more to be a great deal more skilled than he had originally thought and while slaying vamps with the gang might give him an edge in terms of strength and speed the bad guys had the edge in skill. However as he saw over the shoulders of the two that faced the last man of the family get cut down in a vicious manner the point became moot. He had to win! He would not let any more members of this family die! With a roar of aggression he charged the two men intent on making them back up instead of him being the one to retreat. Faking that he was going for an overhead blow he immediately changed into a horizontal slam hitting the killer on the right hard in the ribs. With him stunned and in pain he pretended to repeat the same tactic with the second one but this time really did aim for and deliver a crushing blow to the man's head.
Almost there! Almost there! Xander thought to himself repeatedly as he charged the last of the four men that had answered his challenge.
"Please don't hurt him!" screamed one of the women guarding the boy just before her voice was silenced by a bandit's sword.
Again two images were presented to him, one on top of the other, as he saw the woman who had spoken fall to the ground in a heap. A woman dressed in Japanese clothes a century out of date laid over a woman in modern clothes but both with the same wound across their torsos. Doubling his efforts to defeat his last opponent he was immediately reminded of the opponent he had only stunned moments ago as a blade tore through the back of his shirt cutting a gash along his back from his right shoulder to his left hip. Almost stumbling to the right in order to avoid any follow up slash by the man behind him he didn't see the so-called last bandit's foot heading for his chest until it was too late. Pain tore through his body as the kick connected with the slash wound across his chest aggravating the wound and adding the pain with the force it was delivered with. Knocked to the ground he almost groaned with dismay as the pain caused by the kick had caused him to drop the metal rod he had been using as a weapon up until then. He tried to reach for it but the bandit he had tried to get by in order to rescue the surviving family members kicked it further away making sure that he wouldn't be able to reach it before they cut him down.
It was when he began to move away from the two men wishing to slice him open that he felt something brush up against the fingertips of his right hand. Moving his head just enough to look at the object out of the corner of his eye he discovered that it was a katana. One of the guys he knocked out must have dropped it when they fell down. Still, even with a weapon in reach, these guys wouldn't be underestimating him anymore and with two nasty slashes on his front and back he was hardly in prime fighting condition. He might get lucky and be able to take down the one that he slammed in the ribs but the last guy who was still fresh would slice him up into sushi. Still he still had a shot and the more he hesitated the less chance the remaining members of that Japanese family had to survive.
Almost as if to turn his theory into truth one of the two remaining women who had been attempting to shield the little boy with their bodies let out a cry of despair and moved to the one who had tried to convince the bandits to spare the boy.
"Oh my dear sister! Nnnooo! AH!" the woman wailed in sadness before the same man who slew her sister did the same to her.
That settled it.
Grabbing the katana firmly in his right hand he swung at the bandits that had him cornered with a short but wide move in order to clear some space around him so he could stand up. Ignoring the protests of both his back and his chest he pushed himself to his feet and charged both men vowing that one way or another he was going to save the boy and the final woman no matter what it took. With his emotions running at an all time high the voice that had allowed him to get the drop on one of the bandits was louder than ever and with it came instincts he never knew he had. With these sensations in mind he decided to take a chance and gave full control over his actions to both the voice and the instincts that had manifested out of nowhere.
It was as if his body was on some sort of preprogrammed sequence of movements as it skillfully dodged the first murderer's thrust with the spear by moving slightly to the side and neatly sliced his head off as it passed by. Seeing this skillful move the one that had sliced open his back brought his weapon up with the intention of fighting with everything he had.
It didn't save him one bit as his head followed the fate of his comrade's and fell to the ground two seconds before his body followed suit.
Sliding to a halt as his momentum was spent Xander turned to the final three murderers only aware of his body's protests on a peripheral level. He looked at them with cold eyes that held none of the mischievous and carefree spirit he was so well known for and he could tell that they knew he would not hesitate to slay all of them. One of them, a bald man who liked to show off his muscles, grabbed the sole surviving woman by the hair and pulled her to her feet. The bandit then used her as a human shield with a dagger at her throat to make it clear what would happen if Xander came any closer.
"I will give you three one chance." , Xander stated in a tone that matched the temperature in his eyes, "Release the woman and the boy then turn yourselves into the police. It will be the only chance you have to live past tonight."
"You're in no position to be dictating terms kid!" , the bandit holding the woman yelled trying to sound confident, "I'm the one holding a hostage with a blade to her throat! No matter how fast or good you are with a sword you'll never reach her in time!"
"That is where you're wrong. As long as the woman and the boy live I will consider letting you three live." , Xander explained with no more emotion in his voice than before, "However if you kill even one of them there will be no place on this planet you will be safe from me. Now release them or die."
Leader of the Armed Men's Perspective, Same TimeTHIS IS A DISASTER! Thought Mizuki as he took in the young man who was supposed to be a helpless American kid, a loosely competent swordsman at best.
It had all started out well enough though. His team had been hand picked by the boss' right hand man Hiroshi to recover another potential ally to the cause. It had been fairly commonplace over the last ten years and just about every team in the organization had been given the assignment at one point or another. In the beginning he hadn't given the concept of reincarnation any real thought and for the most part believed it to be a bunch of religious nonsense. However when one of the retrieved persons managed to lead him to a storehouse of gold bullion that only the person who had put it there could have found he began to see it in a new light. In a way it was kind of exciting as it was pretty much the equivalent of working alongside historical warriors even though those that had been men in the past were in some cases now women. Still it made for an interesting job and it even made him believe that anything was possible to those who proved themselves worthy to the boss. That was why he and the guys had been so pleased when they had been selected for what according to rumor was to be a career boosting assignment.
They had been told in the briefing that another retrieval subject had been found in the small town of Sunnydale, California, USA and that this one was a special case. They had been shown pictures of the target as well as a loose summary of the kid's history and weekly routines. Nothing too special at first glance, just your typical American high school student, but when you looked at the information about the town itself it put the kid in a whole new light. The town was a hot zone for demons and dark magic users with numerous types from both categories going in and out of town at all times. That had told him that a kid living in this town had to have some pretty impressive survival traits. Still he had at the time not seen any problems getting the kid but then again getting the kid physically was only half the mission. The term retrieval in the case of these sort of missions also referred to the subject's memories of their past lives which is why these scenarios were developed and played out like this. The situations that were played out were used to bring the subject's memories to the surface at which time all it usually took was a promise of power and wealth to turn them into an ally. When he had looked over the file stating who exactly this kid was supposed to have been in his past life he had believed this scenario's outcome would be no different. Apparently the kid was the reincarnation of a famous Japanese swordsman responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of soldiers during the Meiji revolution. Mizuki had foreseen no trouble in converting such a warrior to the boss' cause and had diligently managed his team to follow Hiroshi's plan to the letter.
The plan itself was to make his team look like a group of bandits who intended to run down, kill and rob a Japanese family. At the same time his men at the rear of the group were to engage the subject once he arrived and use just enough force to hold him back so he could watch the slaughter. According to Hiroshi the sigh of so much blood and the murder of an apparently 'innocent' family would be enough to bring the kid's past life memories to the surface. Once that happened he was to make the usual power and money offer and then escort the kid back to HQ.
That had been the plan.
However after the kid somehow managed to knock out two of his men in as many minutes he had begun to have doubts about how things would turn out. Still the moves the kid had used on the first two members he fought hadn't been anything impressive so he figured those two had just gotten careless. However it was with the next one that he definitely began to sense that something was not right with this situation. The kid had moved with skill and agility that he had shown no signs of before and had broken the guy's neck with not a shred of remorse on his face. From there it had gotten progressively worse as the kid seemed to become more deadly and more determined with every 'victim' his team killed. When the kid fallen to the ground and lost his weapon in the process he had felt a slight sensation of hope that the mission would end well after all. However that sensation was quickly transmuted into the first signs of fear when the kid had grabbed a sword from one of the unconscious men and swung it at the two that had cornered him. Then in a matter of seconds the boy killed not one but two of his men with such skill and precision so as to make his opponents look like children by comparison. However it was when the boy had looked at him and his two teammates that the fear became real in his soul. The eyes he saw were not those of a typical American teenager or even the eyes of a streetwise tough guy who had fought his way up the ladder to a position of power. They were the eyes of a stone cold assassin who took out his targets with no remorse or guilt whatsoever and rarely failed to complete a mission.
Benny, one of the two others aside himself who were still alive, had taken the woman who had been slated as the second last person to be killed and tried to use her as a shield as well as a bargaining chip. The man no doubt still believed that he was looking at just some punk kid who had a few slick moves and couldn't see what lay in the young man's eyes. Mizuki had no illusions about what was going to happen in the next few minutes depending on the choices that were made by he and his comrades. If they let the boy and the woman go and turned themselves into the local authorities like the kid had ordered they would live if only for a few more hours before they wound up silenced by agents of the boss. The leader's tolerance for failure was well known in the organization. The only question would be would the end be dealt to him quickly or would it be drawn out over the course of the next few months. However if they tried to fight the boy they would most likely die as well. It was a no win situation and in a moment of clarity he realized that he and his men had been sent on a suicide mission. They had never been expected to return alive from this mission with the subject! They had been set up!
Damn you Shishio! Mizuki thought as feelings of rage mixed with the fear within his soul as his mind sought a way to survive this debacle.
However movement by the third and last surviving member of his team broke his concentration as Ricky charged the boy head on with his naginta. Mizuki yelled out for his friend to stop, to try to convey to the man that he was committing suicide but in the space between thinking about giving the warning and actually speaking it was over. The blade of the katana the boy wielded seemed to shoot up out of the top of Ricky's head and some part of Mizuki knew how the kid had done it. With the sickening sound of a blade being withdrawn from flesh the katana was withdrawn from Ricky's head allowing his body to fall lifelessly to the ground.
"DAMN YOU!" Benny yelled as in a moment of madness he cut the woman's throat from one side of the neck to the other as some kind of revenge for his fallen friend.
That turned out to be the last mistake Benny Soprano ever made as in the time it took for the body of the woman to fall to the ground the boy crossed the distance between the two of them. By some freak chance of luck Benny managed to get one swing in with his sword but it was blocked by the boy and made to slide off to the side. The boy then rammed the kashira into Benny's eye socket destroying the eyeball within before performing a horizontal slash that sunk right to the man's spine. Then in a horrifying sight the boy used his other hand to push the blade even further literally cutting Benny in two at the waist. With a flick of his wrist the boy shook all the loose blood and bits of flesh from his acquired katana and looked at him with those cold assassin eyes. The boy didn't even seem to realize that he was almost completely covered in blood whether it be his own or that of his defeated enemies. They stood there looking at one another and it was almost as if the boy was waiting for him to decide how things would go from here. Mizuki knew he was dead but the manner of death was still up to him. He could die begging for his life or he could go down fighting and cursing Shishio's name on his way down to hell.
There is only one choice in the end. , Mizuki thought as he brought his sword into an offensive position, I just hope that someday Shishio gets his!
With that he charged the boy with a defiant yell erupting from his mouth and the fire of anger burning in his eyes.
Xander's Perspective, Ten Seconds LaterIt was over.
The last enemy's body lay dead on the ground in a growing pool of his own blood and he felt nothing about what he had just done. To him these men had already been dead the moment they began to slaughter these helpless people. He just made sure their deaths happened sooner rather than later. They deserved this fate because to him those that slaughtered those who could not fight back and took pleasure in it were no better then vampires and should be dealt with in a like manner. Walking over to the sheath his katana belonged to he ripped it from its previous owner's belt and sheathed the blade before tucking the weapon beneath his belt on his left hip. It was at this point that he heard the sounds of sobbing and turned dispassionately to the source to see the small boy, the only survivor of the massacre, sitting on the ground in a fetal position crying. It was only then that which brought Xander back to himself and with him came his emotions and the realization of what he had done. A stinging sensation lanced through his left cheek causing him to reach up with his right hand to determine the cause. The pain intensified for a moment when he pressed his right hand to his left cheek and when he brought the hand before his eyes he saw a singular red line of blood there before him.
My cheek … is .. cut! , Xander thought to himself with shock as memories of his nightmare came to him, Right where I was cut in that dream!
With this knowledge his mind almost shut down completely but his desire to figure out what the hell was happening to him was strong enough to remain conscious. Collapsing to his knees he took in the scene around him, dead bodies and all. The bodies of the bandits, the bodies of all but one of the Japanese family and him covered in blood with the slashes on his chest and back making their presence felt. The whole thing from the moment he had come turned the corner onto this street seemed so surreal and his reaction to it even more unbelievable. He, the Zeppo, had charged into a fight where he was outnumbered ten to one with nothing but a metal rod as a weapon. It seemed insane that he had done it willingly and even more insane that he had done as well as he had against men who were obviously trained in the use of these weapons. However what scared him the most was how he had so coldly dispatched the last five men with the katana and how their deaths had provoked no reaction in him emotion-wise. Even if they had acted no better than vampires they were still human! They could've gone to jail or he could have scared them off but instead he cut them down without mercy. This sequence of thoughts threaten to overwhelm his mind once more but as if in an effort to prevent that from happening a voice came to him seemingly out of nowhere.
"Shinta! Shinta! You must listen to me! Your life has not been chosen for you so you must live. Listen! Our fates have been decided tonight but you must survive to honor those that did not. Save yourself!"
In a daze he knew that the words were not meant for him but at the same time he felt that he had heard someone say something similar a long time ago. Whatever the case they gave him the strength to push back the blackness of unconsciousness for now and make sure that both he and the boy survived this night. Getting unsteadily to his feet he approached the boy as slowly and unthreateningly as he could making no sudden movements or loud noises. He managed to get within eight feet of the boy before he reacted by trying to move away further so Xander stopped his approach. Somehow remembering that children were afraid of large tall things he bent down on one knee so that he height was no longer so great. This seemed to have the desired affect as the boy no longer moved away but at the same time the traumatized kid did not move closer either. Knowing he could not make himself look less threatening in terms of his tattered clothes or the blood on him he tried to put as much kindness and compassion into his eyes as possible. At the same time he mustered up a prize winning lopsided smile that he usually kept in the vault for moments when the gang was particularly bummed out or serious and needed to lighten up. This seemed to work as the kid lost a great deal of the fear he had of Xander but the indecision still remained. It was only then that Xander knew what the kid both wanted and needed more than anything else at that moment.
"Will you let me take you someplace safe?" he asked in as gentle a voice as he could manage.
As the seconds passed with indecision still written on the boy's face the Zeppo thought that he would have to think of some other way to coax the boy into coming with him to someplace safe. However just as his mind began to review the possible solutions the boy sprang to his feet, ran to Xander and wrapped his small arms around his neck. As the boy cried into the cloth of the haori he wrapped his own arms around the boy and a short while later lifted him off the ground. Without hesitation he began to walk in the direction of the one place he knew of where he felt truly safe and with the destination in mind he put his body on autopilot for the remainder of the journey there. This relieved some of the strain on his mind as it took little effort for the brain to instruct the feet to walk and his eyes to watch for certain landmarks. In place of conscious thoughts though the memories of what happened only a short while ago replayed themselves over and over again. However they were not alone as with each repetition of the events ghost memories began to appear amidst the real ones. In some cases the players in each overlapped one another but in most the ghost memories were displayed from a different perspective and height. As time progressed further the ghost memories became more tangible and detailed instead of completely transparent as in beginning.
As he reached the final length of road he knew he would have to travel two voices held a conversation in his mind and as he walked he listened.
"You dug graves for your family and their murderers." Said a deep and wise voice.
"This wasn't my family, they were slave traders. I was sold to them after my parents died. Last night they stopped being slave traders or murderers. They were all just victims." Said the voice belonging to a young boy.
"And these stones?" asked the Deep Wise Voice.
"Sakura, Kasumi and Akane. I only knew them for a few days but they protected me as if I were their own. I am just a boy but I should have protected them. They're gone. I have to live because they died for me!" , the young boy replied with emotion, "I wanted their graves to be beautiful but all I could find were these ugly rocks but it's the best I can do. I wish I had flowers. They all deserve flowers."
As he reached the front walkway of the house he began to feel his strength leaving him. Subconsciously he knew it was because he had lost quite a bit of blood but all that was on his mind at the moment was the conversation in his head and getting the boy to safety. So he soldiered on forcing his feet to continue walking despite his weakness. It was when he stumbled on the second step of the front porch and the front door opened that the final pieces of the conversation he had been listening to were spoken.
"No one should reach Nirvana without the taste of good sake on his lips." , said the Deep Wise Voice, "This is my tribute to them."
"Thank you, er.." said the voice of the young boy before he faltered not know the Deep Wise Voice's name.
"Seijuro Hiko. Learn the name of your new master." , Hiko said answering the boy's unanswered question, "Listen. You were unable to save the lives of the women who took care of you. Now your inner self is laden with their memories. Your small hands can attest to the weight of their lifeless bodies. However, you will learn that their memories are heavier and carrying them will make you stronger. This new strength will be your defense and aide you in the protection of that which is truly important but this can only happen if you are properly trained."
"Properly trained." Said the voice of the young boy as if he were testing the sound of the words rather than comprehending them.
"Tell me your name." Hiko said calmly in a way that was neither a question nor a demand.
"Shinta." The voice of the young boy replied.
"A child's name. Much too soft for a swordsman." , Hiko stated dismissively, "As of today you are Kenshin."
"Ken-shin." The boy said testing out his new name.
"I have found a pupil. Consider yourself fortunate." Hiko said with some satisfaction.
With those last words Xander lost his grip on consciousness and slipped away from the waking world knowing that when he awoke it would not be to the same world he had just left.