Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin if I did the show wouldn't have ended with ninety-five episodes. So there is your proof.
(A/N: Please READ, Due to putting more detail into my sword fights as this story moves along. I will be bumping the rating of this story up to R. I apologize if this has caused trouble for anyone who has been reading this story.
Chapter 9: A Trap is Set
By Tainted InuShemeeko
At the sound of a child's scream Nori took off toward the sound. This couldn't be happening, not now he wouldn't dare to do this now. It was then that Nori remembered Seiichi surly it was him.
'He is the only one and I can think of that would do something like this. Tomi was cruel but he preferred not to involve women or children.'
Once coming to this thought Nori continued her pace. Those children were everything to her for they were the future of Japan.
'Akira, Kyoko please be all right.'
Nori froze in her tracks as a cold cruel voice spoke to the left of her. It was then followed by the struggle of a small child.
"Very good of you, Hiromasa, it now seems that I have the advantage on all fields. My little fire trick has taken your sight, whatever are you to do. I bet you haven't a clue as to how long it took me to prefect that sword technique."
Seiichi smirked as he stole a glance at Nori, before speaking again.
"How is it Hiromasa Tigress that you plan on saving this child from me when you can't even see me?"
Nori couldn't help but smile at Seiichi's arrogant remark. Did he really think that she needed her eyes in order to attack him? As long as she kept listening to Kyoko's breathing she could follow each and every one of his movements.
"I don't have time for all this that I do not. So I would prefer if we could just finish this that is if it is alright with you."
Seiichi continued to glare at Nori until the reality of why she was in a hurry came to mind.
"You are on your way to Nagasaki aren't you? A lot of people are looking for you Hiromasa the Tigress, surly you know that. As for right now I plan on claiming your life here and now. For defeating me is the only way for you to see again, and there is no hope in you being able to do that."
Nori slowly placed her hand on the hilt of her reversed blade sword. She really didn't have time for any of this; she had to get to Nagasaki as soon as possible. The sound of Seiichi's voice broke through her thoughts.
"You know I'm pretty sure our little discussion as given Mr. Gigorou plenty of time to escape with that boy of yours."
Nori couldn'tbelieve what she was hearing Akira had been kidnapped, so it was not just Kyoko's life that lay on the line, but Akira's as well. In one swift movement Nori unsheathed her sword, heading straight toward Seiichi.
"This madness of yours ends here; I won't allow you to terrorize my family any longer."
"Tora Ishi Sen!"
In one quickly downward slash of her sword, a strong wind current was propelled toward Seiichi knocking him off of his feet and onto the ground.
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Kenshin couldn't help, but wonder if there was something else that Hiko wasn't telling them. What though, what could Master Hiko be hiding from them. No matter how much this bothered him now was not the time to worry over such things. Someone was after Miss Nori's life and they had to do something to prevent it from happening.
'Just hold on Miss Nori. We just have to make it in time.'
His eyes quickly glanced over at Sanosuke; Kenshin knew that he was not the only one worried about Nori. For without any doubts he knew that Sanosuke and Hiko were just as worried as he was. Kenshin's eyes then drifted over to Hiko as the three of them continued on their way. That's when a question loomed inside of Kenshin's head.
'Will Nori be able to defend herself now that she was blind, or will we be too late?'
"Master Hiko, how do you think Miss Nori will fair against Seiichi?"
There was a quiet pause before Hiko responded. Something that Nori had said to him earlier was play back inside his head.
"If you don't like the way I have become then you can blame it on the people who killed my family and then my friends. Maybe you should even blame some of it on yourself?"
After a little while he slowly realized, that perhaps Nori was right. He was to blame for it as much as anyone else; he had been living in the mountains away from people after he had perfected the Hiten Mitsurugi style. Hiko was also the one who was keeping secrets from her now. What was he suppose to do? How was he going to answer Kenshin's question?
For as of right now he was wondering the same thing. Nori's sword technique was still unknown to him a little, the Sarasu Hiten Nokan Ryu had been a sword technique that his very own brother had created and perfected. So there was a lot about it that was still unclear to him, much to his embarrassment.
"She's a strong woman Kenshin blind or not I think she'll do just fine."
Their pace remained steady as they continued running forward. They had hope that by following Nori it would lead them right to her, however now the three men were starting to wonder if Nori had given them the slip.
'I do hope Master is right, that I do.'
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Nori glared in Seiichi's direction her ears keeping time with his steady breathing. She then asked a question that had been nagging her since the beginning.
"Just what do you get out of all this Seiichi? What is your reason for showing up now after all of theses years?"
Seiichi smirked at Nori as Kyoko continued to struggle in his grip.
"You know my reason my dear, I told you on that same day that I took your sight away from you. I get to fight with you and be the once responsible for the death of the mighty Tigress. Why if I was you I would take it as a high honor indeed."
Nori could believe what she was hearing, however she did not let it bother her as she replied calmly to him.
"The only thing I will take a high honor in is giving my life, for the one thing that I believe in."
Seiichi sneered at her reply.
"Ha, wasting your time and energy on a bunch of worthless little brats. You've become soft that's all there is too it. I was too easy on you the first time I won't make that mistake again."
Seiichi's attention was drawn so much on Nori that he didn't even see Kyoko crawling away.
"Hey there, you little brat just where do you think you're going?"
However, the minute Seiichi took a step forward; he felt the tip of Nori's sword in his back stopping him in his tracks.
"You said your fight was with me was it not? Not with a six year old child. If you truly believe that you can beat me then why not attack me?"
Nori was sure that Seiichi was positive that he had her beaten. He thought since he had taken away her sight that there was no true way for her to fight him. Seiichi however, couldn't have been more wrong.
"If you wanted to go to your grave, you should have said something a lot sooner to me."
With great speed Seiichi pulled his sword from its sheath. He then turned with great speed, fully intent on putting his sword through Nori's chest. However, as he thrusted out his sword there was nothing there for it to pierce. Nori had vanished from the spot she had just been in.
"Tora Jihi Sen!"
The moment that Seiichi had started to turn, Nori had used her speed and agility to get behind him once again. She had then used a downward thrust toward her opponent's back. The force of her thrust and the power of her chi ripped through Seiichi's gi causing him to stumble forward. His mouth fell open as he coughed up blood before sneering at her once again. Seiichi dark honey eyes held unspeakable anger toward Nori, the light wind whipped at his shoulder length black hair as he pulled himself to his feet once more.
"It would seem Hiromasa the Tigress that your swordsmanship has not declined as I thought it would."
Nori focused her hearing towards Seiichi in order to pick up on his movements. There was no way she was going to let him win; she still had to find Akira. There was one thing she truly wished, she was sure that Kenshin felt the same way. She wished when her enemies were looking for her that they would come after her instead of the ones that she cared about.
"You forget Seiichi that a true swordsman does not always rely on his or her sight, for they must rely on all of their senses. I had forgotten that myself at first so I thank you for reminding me."
Nori's last statement caused Seiichi to growl as he readied himself to charge at her. It was then that Nori focused her hearing in on her opponent's feet as he ran towards her. Gauging the width of his steps Nori was able to block his attack with her sakabato. Nori was forced to take a step backwards as Seiichi continued to force himself forward. Suddenly without warning Seiichi jumped away from her, confusing Nori with his swift movement.
'He moved away from me, but why what does he have up his sleeve now?'
Whatever it was that he was planning, Nori knew that it couldn't be good. She did her best to keep herself focused on Seiichi, however there was one brief moment when she lost track of where he had gone. Nori then searched the area around her for Seiichi's chi, but she was unable to sense it for he had hidden it.
'Where could he have gone, he is defiantly up to something. The question is just what is he up too.'
That's when she felt it a small shift in the wind, and that was all she needed. For the smell of salt and cedar assaulted her nose, followed by a slight rustling sound.Those small simple things had been enough to let her know just where Seiichi had disappeared too. He was going to attempt a far side attack; however using the other senses Nori was able to narrowly avoid his attack.
Her ears then picked up on another familiar sound; it was the sound of a sword being unsheathed. The sound of the metal gliding over the sheath caused Nori's eyes to widen in surprise; she hadn't expected him to try an attack such as this. There was no doubt about it if she did not evade his blade in time he would kill her. Using her grace and skill the best she could, Nori was able to side step Seiichi's katana.
Much to her surprise Nori hadn't moved soon enough to avoid the blade of his katana. The fabric of Nori's periwinkle blue gi, ripped as the blade sliced across the upper part of her right arm. She winced as the blade seeped into her skin tearing it open as she pulled away from the blade more. Seiichi however simply smirked at Nori as he watched the blood seep through the sleeve of her gi as well as the wound he had created.
"Perhaps I was wrong Tigress; perhaps you have lost your touch. I was able to wound you in a short amount of time. That is hard to believe, the fact that this katana I carry with me today has at last tasted your blood. It has been ten long years since this katana has touched your skin. I assure you it is a high honor to do so again."
Seiichi's gloating was not very becoming and Nori for one was starting to grow tired of it.
"Those are petty words you speak, you should not think so highly of yourself. It will only serve to get you into trouble in the end of all this."
Seiichi only ended up sneering at her once again.
"Yes indeed my words may be petty, but they are getting me one step closer to getting you back to the Tigress I remember from the Bakumatsu Revolution. You and the Battousai are the only two people in this world that were so skilled at killing. The two of you were the only two people that I have met that were able to perform Battojutsu with such precision."
He was stalling for time but why, just what was Seiichi planning on doing? The more he continued to talk, Nori slowly started to allow her self not to listen to the words he was speaking and to the way his body was moving. She was sure that if he was going to try and attack her, he would do it when he was sure that her guard was down. She had done that once too many with him already and Nori wasn't about to let it happen again.
There was a slight shift of his left foot, signaling to Nori that he was about to do something. However, Nori found that it was odd that he had moved his left foot and not his right. The sound of clothing being pulled aside could be heard next, and then there was the sound of metal scraping against something. Though while listening Nori could tell that it was not a sword, the scraping sound had not lasted long enough to be that of a sword.
The sound of something soaring through the air towards her caused Nori to parry her sword in front of her; blocking what it was that had been headed toward her throat. It landed on the ground with a cling and a thunk. It was after it had hit the ground that Nori realized what it had been.
'A dragger he had a dragger hidden away in his gi the whole time. That was the short metal scraping sound I heard. He was unsheathing it from inside his gi.'
"Very good Hiromasa Tigress, so you have really haven't lost all of your skills. Perhaps my little fire trick has helped you more then it has crippled you. However, I intend on correcting that right NOW!"
He was charging her, she could feel it; she also knew that Seiichi meant to use his sword to slice right through her.
'He's fast but not as fast as he could be. There is one technique I could use, but can I do it with out my sight?'
"It's over Tigress; this is the end of you. Hahhaaah!"
"Shinsei Tora Kaminari Sen!"
In one split second Nori created the illusion that she was going to strike with her sakabato. When in truth she was using it as a shield to hold off Seiichi's katana. While unseen by Seiichi she used the sheath of her sakabato. The sheath caught Seiichi below the sternum, causing him to bend forward and cough up blood. His body then fell backwards as he fell to the ground motionless, yet still breathing. Seiichi's katana was nothing now but three shards of metal lying of the ground, the hilt of the katana lay an inch away from his body.
Sheathing her sakabato, Nori then gripped her right shoulder as she fell to her knees. Her breathing was now coming out in short pants. The front of her gi was torn slightly from Seiichi's last attack; luckily she had put a stop to the attack before he had a chance to do any real damage.
"It is over Seiichi, you and I shall never cross swords again that I am sure of."
Pain erupted from the back of Nori's eyes; there was a blur of light in front of her eyes. She then was sure she had seen three shadowed figures heading towards her right before they faded away and she gave herself into unconsciousness.
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Kenshin's eyes had widened when the familiar scent of blood drifted to his nose. He was sure that Master Hiko and Sanosuke had smelled it as well.
'Please be alright Miss Nori, there are people here that still need you that there are.'
Kenshin's amethyst eyes glanced over at Sanosuke, there was no denying the fact that Kenshin was sure that Sanosuke had feelings for Miss Nori, just as he was certain that Sanosuke would be in great pain if anything were to happen to her. At last they entered the clearing that was ahead of them. What they found when they arrived there was not what they expected to find.
Seiichi's body was slumped against the base of a tree, his breathing was shallow and a thin line of blood trickled out the right corner of is mouth. Both Kenshin and Sanosuke were relieved when Hiko spoke to them.
"He has a few broken ribs and his chest is bruised pretty badly, but he'll live through it."
That had been the one thing that they had been praying for, hoping that Nori had not become the Tigress and killed him. Turning away from Seiichi's unconscious form Sanosuke noticed another body laying motionless in the clearing off to the left.
"Kenshin over there, it's Nori."
Kenshin and Hiko turned their attention away from Seiichi, to look in the direction of Sanosuke's voice. Both men were hoping that the motionless form that they saw laying there wasn't Nori. However, the periwinkle gi told them otherwise, the breath of all three men stopped as they saw the crimson liquid pooling across the ground.
When at last his feet remembered how to move, Sanosuke took off toward Nori. Kenshin soon followed after him, while Hiko just stood and watched. As he knelt down beside her body Sanosuke could see the gash from a katana, in her right shoulder. Kenshin quickly started to tear away pieces of his own gi in order to wrapped Nori's wound.
"She'll be fine Sano. As long we are able to stop the bleeding, Miss Nori will be fine that she will."
Sanosuke was silent for a minute, his eyes never leaving Nori for a second. Then when Kenshin was sure that Sanosuke was going to answer, he surprised him.
"You know what Kenshin. You're right Nori will be alright, because we'll make sure of it."
Hiko continued to watch is idiot apprentice and his rooster head friend tend to Nori's wounds. His eyes fell on the slash in the front of her gi; it had been made by a sword no doubt about it. However, he couldn't help but wonder how Nori had managed to stop such an attack?
The sound of leaves moving caused Hiko to look away from Kenshin and Sanosuke and towards the brushes. His right hand was rested above the hilt of his katana, ready to draw it and strike if it were necessary. However, to his surprise what stumbled out of the brushes was a small girl of six with raven colored hair and sad chocolate eyes. Her yellow and white flowered kimono was smudged with dirt as she stifled a cry as she tried to pick herself up.
Kyoko was startled when she felt the strong arms of a man lifted her off of the ground. Thinking it was Seiichi once again Kyoko prepared herself to scream and bit. However, after awhile she realized that this man was different his touch was gentle. Her chocolate orbs slowly drifted up to meet with the dark brown eyes of the man who had picked her up.
"You must be Kyoko, Kenshin has told me a lot about you. You have a brother named Akira don't you?"
At first Kyoko was too scared to say anything to Hiko, then she noticed that Kenshin and Sanosuke where there as well. Knowing that they seemed to trust this, big brawny man made her relax and she nodded her hair.
"Um yes, I have a brother named Akira and my name is Kyoko. I told you what my name was. So now it's your turn, what is your name?"
A small amused smile found its way onto Hiko's lips as he looked at the child.
"My name is Seijuuro Hiko."
Kyoko's little eyes seemed to brighten at hearing his name.
"I know you; you're Aunt Nori's grumpy old uncle."
Hiko was taken by surprise by a simple word, old. He may have seen his share of war and blood shed. However he never, not once considered himself old. Hiko however let Kyoko's words go; he would have to take that up with Nori once she was awake.
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Kenshin looked up from his and Sanosuke work on Nori's wounds as he heardHiko approach them. That was when he noticed that his master was carrying something in his arms, as Hiko got closer Kenshin saw that Hiko had found Kyoko.
"Why Little Miss Kyoko, it is good to see that you are alright. That it is indeed."
Kyoko smiled and nodded to Kenshin, right before she noticed Nori lying on the ground. Her small cute smile soon turned into a little pout.
"Aunt Nori got hurt because, she was trying to save me from the bad men."
All three men's eyes widened at the sound of bad men. Their eyes then fell on Seiichi who still lay unconscious beneath a tree. So there were more, then just this man that were involved. Who were these other men? Where were they now, and just what did they want with Nori.
All of these were questions that would have to wait until Nori had awakened. For it seemed wrong to question Kyoko after everything she had just been through.
(A/N: Well there weren't many reviews for chapter 8. However I want to thank all of you who have been reading this story.
Tora Ishi Sen- Tiger Will Sword, Tora Jihi Sen- Tiger Mercy Sword,
Shinsei Tora Kaminari Sen- Sacred Tiger Thunder Sword
Katana- I think it is a type of Japanese sword
Battojutsu- Press the blade's edge against the inside of the sheath, then draw the sword quickly to increase speed of the sword's swing by two to three times' normal. In this way, the attacker may strike the opponent before there is time to react.
Ja ne! You guys are great.
Tainted InuShemeeko)
15