"Tsubasa Battouryu, you'd better surrender to me, or suffer a fate worse than death!" proclaimed a black-clad ninja, who emerged from the shadows. Miryu, who carried nothing but her katana and her whips, was sure that she would laugh herself to death. She knew that the ninja before her had tailed her for the past three days, but still did not dare to make his move. His clumsiness was also a big give-away, which made her wonder why his superiors would send him to kill her.
"I think it is you who will suffer at the end and not me" she said, trying hard to stifle a fit of laughter when she saw him slightly cowering in fright after she spoke. "Who are you, and why are you so afraid of me? Men often look at me and think lightly of me because I am a woman, what makes you so different?"
"Well… That's because I'm smarter than the rest… I… I… I think" the ninja muttered, taking out the smallest dagger Miryu has ever seen in her entire life. "And… and… now, I'm going to have to kill you". Without even taking a step back, Miryu cracked one of her whips causing the dagger to soar out of his hand.
"Go home, kid, there's nothing that you can do here" she said, taking his dagger and throwing it into the river that flowed near them. She walked past the ninja without saying anything else, who, she knew, was praying that she spared his life. After walking a few feet away from him, she said, "How old are you, anyway?"
"E… Eleven…" he said, still shaking non-stop. "I'm… eleven"
"What of your mission to kill me, kid?" she asked him, "Did your parents owe so much of money to the local Daimyo that they demanded my head to free your family from debt?"
He nodded. Such was the case of many families now. War had stretched the economy thin, and leaving nothing for the peasants who were already living in poverty. As a top hitokiri among the Ishin-Ishishi faction, the bounty on her head was definitely sky-high, but still, no one dared to attack her openly, which posed a big question to her. Shrugging most of her questions back, she asked him again, "Tell me, has your father departed from this world, and are you the oldest son?"
The answers to both questions were "yes". There was no wonder that the boy had to pick up his courage to face her head to head. If she was in his shoes, she would definitely do the same. But, she was not, so, she would fight for the Ishin-Ishishi to ensure the democracy, peace and harmony promised by the Emperor. By doing so, she knew that she would be able to avenge the unfairness her mother had suffered, daughter of the Shinsen-Gumi or no.
"Aren't you gonna kill me?" the boy asked Miryu again, gathering a little more courage since she did not seem aggressive enough to be feared by the bravest of man.
"Why must I waste my time, energy and effort in doing so?" she replied with a question of her own. "You are just a kid from the country, and I am one of the top hitokiri of the Ishin-Ishishi?" A smile formed at the corner of her mouth, knowing that she was doing a very good job in making the boy almost wetting his pants.
"Well… I won't be able to save my parents anyway…" he replied timidly, "the Daimyo would kill me before I can see them when I get home…"
Miryu just sighed and tightly grasped the boy's shoulder. "Then you must find the courage to stand up to those who are stronger than you" she said softly, as an older sister would to her baby brother, "Don't just stand there wishing for death and complaining when you can use the time you have to change your fate"
The boy still seemed to be unsure of her words, and she gave him one of her own daggers she had purchased from Arai Shakku months before. "What is for?"
"Give the Daimyo this, tell him that you are under my protection, and I would surely come for him if any harm should befall you and/or your family", Miryu replied, "See the dragon-carving on the blade? (The boy nodded) It stands for Battouryu, remember that"
"Okay…"
"Now that's a good kid"
When the boy had disappeared from her sight, she could not do anything but to pray that his Daimyo believed everything that she told him to say. Deep in her gut, she missed her own family too; she missed the days when she and Kenshin were still training under Hiko, when she annoyed him by asking thousands of questions regarding everything she saw… But to protect that little, sort-of family, she knew that she must take a stand, and she chose to fight.