Hey there! I hoped you would return. *laugh*

Again, I must express how I own nothing (how I wish I owed Kenshin!) Please review/rate.

It would make me ever so happy.

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Kenshin Himura, the legendary Hitokiri Battousai, and Aoshi Shinomori, the ex leader of the Oniwabanshu, walked down the narrow dirt path to their master's home. If you could call it a home that is. After a long night in a dingy bar, the feared assassins needed to rest up, for their next kill. Normally after an assassination they immediately got a new job, but their master said he wanted them to meet him before the next killing.

Seijuro Hiko, the last known master of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu style, was the secret teacher of the deadliest assassins known to man. His first apprentice, Kenshin Himura, came to him when Kenshin was a little boy whose family had been murdered. Aoshi Shinomori came later after the Battosai had been killing for years. Seijuro had never been a fan of murder, but after a huge loss on his end, he took to drinking sake every minute of everyday and embraced Kenshin's way of assassination. Soon the yen began to pile in for under the table jobs. Normally Kenshin and Aoshi killed those who they thought deserved to die for their sins, but once a rich man with lots of yen came around, they couldn't say no.

Kenshin Himura was seven (A/N I'm not exactly sure when his family was killed so bear with me) when his family was brutally murdered before his very eyes. A few days later Seijuro Hiko appeared and took him as his apprentice. Soon after, once Kenshin could wield a katana properly, he set off to find the men who killed his family. Once he stumbled upon their lair, he was unmerciful in the killings of twenty men. He spared the women, for they reminded him of his family. The women were thankful and once the police came around they said nothing of the murderer who killed one of the most powerful clans.

Aoshi Shinomori was a bit different from Kenshin and his master. At the age of fifteen, Aoshi became the leader of the Oniwabanshu, one of the most powerful ninja clans in Kyoto. He was even betrothed to a young girl, later on, who was only six when the arrangement was made. It is believed that she was murdered. One day as the girl and her grandfather were walking home, a gang ambushed them. The old man had sustained severe injuries and barely lived, but Aoshi's future wife was killed. She was eight, and Aoshi had just turned seventeen. Aoshi, wracked with guilt and sadness, went out for revenge and killed the gang. After that, he never returned to the Oniwabanshu.

A few days after Kenshin had killed a rich overlord, he had stumbled over a man sleeping in the road. It had been Aoshi. Something made Kenshin stop and take the man home. After hearing his story Kenshin insisted that Aoshi stay with him and kill by his side. Together they have killed over one hundred people, mostly rich people dipped in sin. In their own sick little way, they were cleansing the world of its scum and filth.

"About time you got here!" Hiko snarled as his two apprentices entered his hut. The smell of stale sake hung in the air, as it had for the past twelve years. "Sorry master." Kenshin and Aoshi said simultaneously. "Damn straight you're sorry. Stupid ungrateful apprentices." Hiko mumbled as his speech slurred. Kenshin rolled his eyes as Aoshi sat down across from Hiko. There was silence as Hiko took another swing of his sake. "So, who's next?" Kenshin asked once Hiko had put the bottle to his side.

Hiko looked from assassin to assassin and sighed. "Do you have any idea the bounty that rest's on your idiotic heads?" he reprimanded. Kenshin shrugged as Aoshi's cold voice whipped against the silence. "Why don't you enlighten us master." Hiko glanced over toward Aoshi and smirked. Aoshi was the only man Hiko didn't feel like pissing of. If looks could kill Hiko would've been dead the instant Aoshi opened his eyes in his hut all those years ago. "Five hundred thousand yen." Hiko said sipping more of his sake. Kenshin let out a low whistle.

"Somehow, I imagined it higher." Aoshi said simply. Hiko laughed. "Enough with the bounty on our heads. Seeing as how no one could kill us, there's no point in discussing it. Now, who are we going to kill next?" Kenshin said narrowing his eye. Hiko sighed, sometimes Kenshin got too serious too quickly. Sadly, he picked up that trait from Hiko himself. "Brace yourselves," Hiko warned, "your next kill will be none other but Mokoto Shishio."

There was a long pause that hung in the atmosphere. "The Mokoto Shishio?" Kenshin asked his eyebrows raised in interest. "The very same. An old man showed up before you got here and handed me a note and yen." Hiko explained. Kenshin's eyes were alit with excitement as the chance of a lifetime had landed in his lap. "How much?" Aoshi asked. "Who cares? We have the chance to kill Mokoto Shishio, one of the most feared men in all Japan. Besides us, of course." Kenshin interrupted. His blood began to boil as a vision of Shishio covered in blood begging Kenshin for his life swirled before him.

"I'm simply curious." Aoshi admitted. "Three hundred thousand yen. And the note was composed of a map of Shishio's palace." Hiko answered taking another swig of sake. Aoshi stood up. Kenshin raised a questioning brow. "I need to clean my kodachi before we leave. I don't want the blades to dull when I run it over Shishio's throat. You should consider doing the same to your katana Himura." Aoshi said quietly. Kenshin grinned wickedly as he left to join Aoshi.

Moments later, Hiko sighed and watched his idiot assassins leave to kill another man. 'How many more til they reach their limit?' Hiko wondered. Groaning, Hiko stood up and grabbed another bottle of sake. One day he would drink himself to death. "Cheers!" Hiko toasted and slowly began counting the yen. Kenshin and Aoshi made their way down the dirt path to met their new target, their new kill and their greatest adventure yet.