Disclaimer: I Do NOT own Rurouni Kenshin, that right belongs to Nobuhiro Watsuki. This story is strictly fan-based. I do, however, own Sannai Erina, her late commander, Shiroji Sasuke, and Sannai Erina's parents and older brother.
Back in the Bakumatsu: A Battle Between Battōsai
Kenshin awoke to the sound of Sannai yelling and went to check on her to see if she was alright. She was screaming in her sleep, crying out names of people
he supposed she knew. No tears fell from her eyes though, but based on the expressions on her face, he knew she was having a nightmare. He tried to wake
her by gently shaking her shoulder, calling out to her to save her from the dream. She needed her rest from the injury she sustained a couple days ago, but he
didn't want to see her suffer like she was. However, when she opened her eyes, his own widened and he moved quickly, unsheathing his sword to protect
himself but the force she used to attack him was enough to throw him through the thin paper doors of her bedroom. He pushed himself up and looked up to
see Sannai standing there, sword drawn and looking down at him with cold, dangerous eyes. Kenshin stood up with the help of his sword and sheathed it,
looking at her with slightly surprised eyes. He was right to be weary of her in the beginning, but after being under the same roof as her for the past couple of
months or so, his caution had disappeared. But now it was back in full force, and the need to protect his friends surfaced. "I do not want to fight you, Sannai."
She ignored him, stepping off the porch, her eyes never leaving his.
~o~o~o~o~o~
Footsteps were heard coming from behind Erina and she looked with only her eyes to see Yahiko and Kaoru appear. A moment later Sanosuke came from the
other direction. It was obvious they had come to see what all the commotion was. She turned towards Sanosuke and ran at him, her sword aimed for the kill.
Luckily Kenshin was close enough to intervene, pushing her back with his own sword and standing protectively in front of the ex-fighter for hire. "Jeez…what's
with Sannai?" He asked Kenshin after gulping from the near death experience. "That is not Sannai, but Lady Battōsai, that it is." Kenshin informed his young
friend. "So…she's the one the police have been looking for?" "No," Kenshin answered before sheathing his sword when he saw that Erina wasn't going to
attack at the moment. "The woman they wanted was the one that attacked earlier today. They arrested her and the widow that shot Sannai." He said, not
once looking away from Erina. She was known to be quick to attack with amazing speed, speed that challenged even Hitokiri Battōsai's. "Come on
Sannai…knock it off…" Came Yahiko's voice but it was ignored as Erina charged at Kenshin, swinging at him causing him to once again unsheathe his sword and
block the attack, unable to dodge for fear his friend may be attacked by mistake. She continued to attack him, repeatedly swinging her sword at him and he
was trying hard not to fight back. Even if she was the Lady Battōsai, it didn't matter, she was still his friend, and he would not harm her. Though he doubted he
could in the Rurouni state he was in now, but he would try.
~o~o~o~o~o~
Erina paused in fighting and sheathed her sword but never removed her hand from the handle. She simply shifted her stance and Kenshin recognized that it
was a defensive stance. Surely she knew that he wouldn't attack her. Though he didn't have to wonder why for very long for she charged at him, pulling the
blade out. Kenshin blocked it and skidded back some but then ended up flying across the court yard. She had used her scabbard to attack him, it was an
offensive version of his Sou Ryu Sen. He pushed himself up but had to be quick once more to block another of her attacks. He gritted his teeth as he held her
back, and ended up kicking her to get free. Dodging the attacks was getting more and more difficult. She was reading his movements, and predicting what he'd
do next. Something one had to learn when being a Battōsai. "Pathetic." Erina spoke for the first time since he had awakened her from her nightmares. "You are
nothing like the Battōsai I have heard so much about." She practically spat at him. "I have no connection with that name anymore." Kenshin defended himself,
slowly standing up and keeping his sword out to protect himself from an attack that would clearly be coming soon. "A Battōsai is a Battōsai until the day he
dies."
~o~o~o~o~o~
Kenshin's eyes widened as she spoke the same words Jin-e spoke when he had battled him to save Kaoru's life a couple years ago. He opened his mouth to
speak, but ended up being thrown across the court yard once more. He didn't even have a chance to block or dodge for she had distracted him slightly by
getting him to talk and used god-like speed to catch him off guard, smart move on her part. He pushed himself up once more and managed to block her next
attack, though he retaliated this time to try and catch Erina unexpectedly. She was pushed back and a small smirk played on her lips followed by a small
chuckled. Kenshin held his sword up and glared, swinging at her when she came to attack him again. Perhaps if he kept swinging back at her, he could keep
her far enough away so that he wouldn't be harmed and it may even give him a chance to think of a way to bring her back to the gentle Rurouni they had met a
couple months ago. "Come on, Sannai!" Sanosuke's voice was heard from the porch of the dojo. "Come back to us!" He tried to reason with her, "I'm sorry I
tried to frame you!" The teen both admitted and apologized. His efforts were in vain though. Finally Kenshin came up with an idea. He went into an offensive
stance and just hoped it would work. He ran at Erina, swinging his sword but she easily blocked it, pushing him back and retaliated. The female Rurouni-turned-
Battōsai swung at the ground, calling out an attack. Kenshin barely had enough time to block the Dou Ryu Sen before she appeared next to him, swinging her
sword and hitting him across the chest as she ran past him. She didn't stop her attack, however, for she adjusted her hands and pushed the Rurouni down
towards the ground. She continued to apply pressure, glaring at him as he held back her sword from his neck with his scabbard. It began to crack and that's
when he used his feet to push her off of him.
~o~o~o~o~o~
Kaoru yelled out Kenshin's name and moved to interfere, but Sanosuke stopped her by extending an arm out in front of her. "Not a good idea, Missy." He said,
looking down at her. "Kenshin can handle his own, you'd only be a distraction. He'd have to protect both himself and you." Kaoru knew he was right, but she
couldn't help it. Sannai was now Lady Battōsai and from her point of view, Kenshin was having some trouble. "Relax. Kenshin's probably got a plan." He tried to
comfort her. They both turned back to the fight and knew why Kenshin wasn't fighting back. Erina was their friend, it was just a shame that they had to find out
she was the lady Battōsai this way. Perhaps if they had found out the way Kaoru did with Kenshin, this wouldn't be happening. Though Erina and Kenshin were
not the same person, therefore the way their history was revealed would also surely be different. Another crash and the bathhouse would need repaired. A
few moments later the wooden door to the estate would need replaced. Though not all the damages were done by Kenshin's body, Kenshin was now fighting
back. So the estate doors were from Erina crashing into them. They continued at it for a few minutes, Sannai swinging and Kenshin either blocking or dodging
then attacking her with his own sword and she would block or dodge. Then Erina smirked and Kenshin's eyes widened as he felt himself being thrown towards
the dojo, landing in between his friends and through the porch onto the ground underneath. Wood fell on him and, despite Sano's warning, Kaoru went to see
if he was alright. Her eyes widened and she seemed to be frozen with fear. Sano asked what was wrong, but before Kaoru could answer, the wood covering
their male friend moved and was pushed off of him. Sanosuke's eyes widened as he watched Kenshin pull himself up.
~o~o~o~o~o~
Kenshin stood up and walked past a traumatized Kaoru. He stood in front of Erina, left arm resting over his sword and golden eyes looking at her with his
famous death-glare. Before anything was said, Erina was running at Kenshin, unsheathing her sword. As soon as she got close enough, she swung at him but
at the last second she twisted around him using the quick-step and continued her swing, aiming at the back of his neck. However, when Kenshin
counterattacked, his sword went through her, an after image! His eyes searched for her before he held up his sword stopping her attack from hitting him
across the face. He pushed back and swung at her, but she flipped and landed on her feet, skidding a little as she changed her stance. Kenshin ran at her,
twisting around when he was close enough and as Erina twisted her body and swung her sword to counter-attack, Kenshin ducked and moved to the side,
twisting his body upwards and slashed Erina up her side. She flew into the air and landed on the firepit, putting out the flames with both her body and the dirt
that followed her. Once Erina stood up and tore off her burned outter uwagi, revealing the second one, only thing was the second one was more of an
off-white instead of pure white. Both Battōsai charged at each other, Erina swinging at him only to have him block it. At her second swing in attempt to hit him,
he use the Ryu Kan Sen. He blocked her sword, pushed her back and when she continuing her swing, he turned around and slashed at her back. Erina cried
out, stumbling forward from the force of his attack. Kenshin then backed away as she sloppily swung at him to get him to back a way a bit. "What's the matter,
Erina? I thought you would put up more of a challenge during your last moments alive." He said, not hearing the gasp from the assistant master of the dojo
who was sitting on the porch. Erina smirked and rolled her shoulders. "I'm just warming up, Kenshin." She returned before disappearing from view. Kenshin's
eyes then became busy, searching around for her. Finally he located her, though he had to move quickly when he turned around and jumped back just in time
to miss being struck by both her sword and scabbard. Though they didn't rest long; they both ran at each other, jumping at one another and swinging their
swords in the air repeatedly with great speed. Once they landed, Erina looked at her right arm just in time to see the sleeve of her under uwagi tear and blood
to spray out slightly. The same thing happened to Kenshin, ony the male Rurouni-turned-Battōsai had been hit on his left shoulder. Erina turned her head and
bit where the her sleeve had ripped using her left hand to tear the sleeve off. She threw it to the side before running at him again.
~o~o~o~o~o~
Sparks flew when the Battōsai's swords collided against each other. They both tried to push the other back, but ended up jumping away from each other. They
continued running at one an other, swinging and either dodging or blocking the attacks. With every block more sparks would fly from the blades at the sheer
force and speed put behind the attack. Of course, from time to time, one Battōsai would successfully land a blow each other and a new wound would appear.
Even though they both used sakabatōs, the weapons still some damage, just not as bad as normal katanas. They were simply charging and swinging at each
other, not using any special techniques. "Maybe…they'll tire each other out?" Koaru said hopefully, but they all knew that they could go on for hours like this.
They had already been fighting for almost an hour. No matter how many times Kaoru called out to Kenshin it wasn't enough to bring him back. The same went
for Erina everytime Yahiko her yelled for her. Sanosuke wanted to go and get help, maybe Saito would be strong enough to stop them. Though he didn't want
to leave the missy and brat unprotected incase they were caught in the crossfire. The two Battōsai would never forgive themselves when they returned to their
Rurouni selves and had hurt one of them. If they ever did, that is. That was what Sano was afraid of; their friends never reverting back to the Rurouni they
knew and loved. Another crash was heard, breaking the ex-fighter for hire from his thoughts. He looked up from the spot on the ground he was staring at to
see Kenshin pushing wood from the work-in-progess dojo wall. Kenshin glared at Erina as she twirled her sword. The male Battōsai got up and ran at the
female Battōsai, yelling out a technique. "Hiten Mitsurugi Ryū, Ryu Kan Sen Tsumuji!" Erin's gaze darkened as she chuckled, charging at Kenshin and shouting
out a technique. "Meiyo Shūtingusutā Ryū, Fenikkusu Buyō no Tenmetsu!" Sanosuke merely blinked and Erina was in front of Kenshin, swinging so fast that it
had defeated Kenshin's attack. When she was close enough, she spun so she moved around Kenshin and hit his back, but the attack didn't stop there. She
jumped in the air and did a summersault over him, hitting him in the shoulder causing him to lean to the left. After Erina landed, she spun around continuously,
holding out her blade and hitting Kenshin on his chest, both arms, stomach, and both legs. When she couldn't go any lower towards the ground, she was
facing him and jumping up, hitting him the chin causing him to take a step back as he tilted his head up. As Erina descended towards the ground, she dived at
him, hitting his right shoulder. When he feet touched the ground, she jumped back as Kenshin sloppily swung, wanting to get her away. He then spit out some
blood from, what Sano guessed that he bit his tongue from the blow to his chin.
~o~o~o~o~o~
"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryū, Ryu Sou Sen!"Kenshin hollered as he charged at Erina. He started to randomly slash at her in rapid succession simaliar to what she had
done. Only he didn't 'dance' around her. Erina managed to block the first few swings, but as he continued he put more speed into his attack, causing her to
miss blocking one strike and that was her downfall. She was unable to block anymore because with each strike she was hit and pushed back. Kenshin put all
his strength into one final swing, causing her to fly back into the perimeter wall. All of Erina's hard work was once again destroyed. "Tsuchi Fenikkusu
Sutoraiki!" A bunch of rock, stone, and dirt came flying at Kenshin, causing him to swing as fast as he could to block the debris from hitting him. Though he
didn't have time to dodge her blade when she appeared right behind the debris and hit him right across the chest, sending him crashing back into the dojo
stairs. Again, despite Sanosuke's warning, Kaoru ran over to see if he was alright. A hand shot out and grabbed the assistant master's shoulder, making
everyone freeze; Kaoru with fear, Yahiko and Sano with worry. Though to everyone's surprise, he merely used her to help himself up from the rubble and
walked right by her. The guys ran over to her, asking her if she was alright and she told them yes. "He didn't attack…maybe he's still in there somewhere…We
just have to keep-" "Missy, when he's Battōsai, the Rurouni isn't there. The only reason he didn't attack you was because you are not his target, Erina is."
Sanosuke cut her off, causing more tears to fall because she knew that it was true. Yahiko though, not thinking and only reacting out of anger for Kenshin's
actions, started throwing pieces of wood at him. Freaking out, both Kaoru and Sano tackled him to get him to stop. "Are you crazy! Do you want him to attack
us?!" Sano asked angrily. "Maybe if I…" He stopped talking when he saw Kenshin turn, his death glare now turned towards him. He gulped before Kenshin
slowly turning his attention back towards Erina. The apprentice of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryū sighed in relief that he had not turned into Kenshin's next target.
"What were you thinking?" Sanosuke asked gripping the boys shirt and holding him close, glaring daggers at him. "I-if I hit him in the head hard enough-" "That
he'll turn back to normal? Don't you think with all the blows to the head he has received from Erina that he would have become Rurouni already?!" Sanosuke
cut him off still glaring at him. Yahiko just hung his head in shame. No, he hadn't thought that.
~o~o~o~o~o~
Kenshin charged at Erina once again, though Erina stood her ground, standing in a batto stance. Thoguh when Kenshin swings at her, she removed her hand
from the hilt of her sword and catches Kenshin's blade between her hands. Kenshin's eyes narrowed a bit in irritation before Erina gripped the blade fully and
pulled him a bit closer. He tried to fight it, but she held her grip and small drops of blood dripped from her hands. Then Erina hit Kenshin in the face with her
elbow then right after she pushed his sword and hit him in the throat with the butt of it. She put so much force into the attack that he was tossed onto his back
a foot away. He stayed laying down for a minute, and Erina walked over to him, pointing her sword at his neck and putting a little pressure down, cutting him a
bit. The blood ran down the side of his neck and he glared. He pushed the sword aside and stood up to swing at the female once more to get her to back away
so he could recompose himself. They once again charged at one an other, swinging their blades and creating more sparks once they collided. They proceeded
to swing at eachother, sometimes swinging multiple times, sometimes swinging once, jumping away, then charging at the other once more. It was easy to
follow them at first, but as they continued their onslaught of attacks they enhanced their speed. When they finally paused from their continuous attacks, they
were both breathing heavilly, bleeding from various parts of their bodies. They stared harshly at on another, not even batting an eye. The wind blew and their
hair started to flow with it, though Erina's tie fell off letting her hair blow freely. Kenshin smirked once the wind stopped blowing, complimenting her on her
looks with her hair down. She just spit some blood onto the ground before seemingly disappearing. The male Battōsai's eyes were busy as he searched the
courtyard for his opponent. Though he could not find her. He turned around, maybe she was hiding somewhere? No, she was a proud samurai like himself and
would not lower herself to such trickery. His eyes widened when he sensed a strong chi heading at him. Kenshin turned but could not take a step back quick
enough to fully dodge Erina's blade. His nose got cut a bit but that's not what hurt. No, it was his eyes. Kenshin took a step back, rubbing at his eyes as if he
had gotten something in them. When the burning sensation passed, he opened his eyes only, everything was still dark.
~o~o~o~o~o~
"Meiyo Shūtingusutā Ryū, Chishi Fenikkusu Gyōshi." Erina revealed the technique before licking her blade. She used her god-speed to appear in the air above
Kenshin, swinging down at him and wasn't all that surprised when Kenshin moved his sword and blocked the attack. She disappeared once more, and Kenshin
stood still, moving his head a tad every now and then in different directions. He moved to the side a bit, having Erina's sword just miss him. He had felt the
fabric of what was left of his clothing tear. He tried to dodge another one of her attacks, but ended up being thrown through one of the wall of the main
building. Once again Kenshin had to push rubble off of him and pull himself up into a standing position. It was getting quite annoying that a female was giving
him such a hard time. He searched the grounds for her chi signature, ignoring the others that were there as well. They were not of any importance. His head
snapped to the side when he senced her presence and dodged an oncoming swing of her sword, but just barely because a couple strands of his hair was cut.
The next dew minutes were spent with Kenshin dodging Erina's onslaught of attacks. Though she did get a few hits, but only strong enough to slice his flesh.
After about five minutes of continuous swinging from Erina and dodging from Kenshin, He slowly started to regain his vision. Though at first, it was very blurring
but at least he could see where she was coming from better. When his vision was fully back, he could see the damage they had caused towards him, or more
so, his attire. His shirt was in shreds, so he just ripped the remain off his body, revealing all the cuts he had received during their fight. He had cuts covering
him, many across his chest in different directions, arms had slashes on them, his stomach was slashed up, and the pants near his hips had slices on them but
not enough to lose them. There were also many, many bruises starting to form all over his body; a rather big and dark one on his neck, and some of the cuts
were deep. He was dripping with blood. Though Erina wasn't in any better shape. Her outer uwagi was completely off of her, her under uwagi was cut up
pretty bad, and blood soiled her clothes, cuts on her face and arms where the skin was exposed. As long as bruises of her own appearing. It was time to end
this. They have been at this for almost 3 hours now. The last time a battle lasted this long was against Shishio when his weak Rurouni side was fighting him.
Erina seemed to be thinking the same thing. So he moved into a stance where he stepped with his left leg first instead ot the right, and got ready to use the
secrect signature move of the Hiten Mitsurugi- Ryū. Erina seemed to get into a rather interesting stance as well. She was standing sideways, her hip turned,
and waiting. They then went after each other, both ready to end the battle and claim victory.
Y: You idiot! Learn to control yourself!
K: Orororo forgive me Yahiko.
k: I'm just glad you're back to normal.
S: You had us all worried there.
M: Why is it that almost every time I visit I must treat someone?
K: Forgive me, Megumi-dono.
M: Well I guess it can't be helped.
k: Sannai isn't in her room!
M: Are you serious!?
S: She is Lady Battōsai though.
M: That doesn't matter!
K: Next time on Another Battōsai, The Secret's Out: Erina the Legendary Lady Battōsai