Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Fourteenth Master ❯ To the Death ( Chapter 6 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The Fourteenth Master
Ch. 6- To the Death
Hitokiri Saizen Tamoru
[ronin setora]

_ _ _ _
He turns and walks back up the stairs to his room. He leans again by
the books and shuts his eyes, thoughts of Tomoe and Saizen plaguing
his mind.
_ _ _ _

a/n: How do Hitokiri Regain their titles? Leader of Men, or Killer?

"Tomoe-chan?"
Black hair shifts upon white-clad shoulders.
"Hm?"
Worried eyes meet curious ones. Amiko drops her gaze to her feet while
two men stand at the ready in front of her.
"Sai-chan will lose."
Tears begin to fall from Amiko's eyes as Tomoe looks back at the two
Hiten Mitsurugii swordsmen. She says nothing and focuses on them.
Kenshin stares into the eyes of his opponent. He notices something
strange about him, something he couldn't quite point out. Had they been
in battou-jutsu stances, Saizen's different form would not have worked,
but, both of them being battou-jutsu masters, that form of battle would
have gone nowhere. But Kenshin stares nonetheless, trying to figure out
the little things that made Saizen's stance different from his own.
Saizen notices Kenshin's curiousity and smirks in his mind. He knows
what has the Battousai wondering but keeps his stance so close to
normal that his adversary couldn't decifer the difference. Though he
holds his katana with both hands, as any swordsman would after drawing
it, he has those hands switched. His left hand is nearest the tsuba but
he keeps his feet in the right handed stance. He watches his opponent
and thinks of the day that had passed that had him in this position.
--|------- -------|--
"As a student of the Hiten Mitsurugii Ryu, I cannot stand idly by as
people are slaughtered. This is why I kill."
"So you consider yourself a devoted follower of the first principle?"
"Yes I do. The sword of Mitsurugii should be weilded for the people of
the world."
"I know the damn principles. Do you not realize what Mitsurugii
technique is? It's just another way to kill our brothers. But, if
that's all it is, I have no reason to only bear it against men someone
socially above me calls corrupted. In my eyes, everyone fighting this
Unholy War is corrupted."
"I fight to protect those important to me. To end the suffering of
those around me."
"What motivates you?"
Himura Kenshin looks down at the ground in front of him, vivid images
of the three ladies that had guarded him in his childhood, their bodies
resting in their own blood. He remembers the strain on his body from
digging them graves and burying them all alone. He thinks of the first
words the thirteenth master of the Hiten Mitsurugii Ryu said to him. He
ressurects the sky when that same master payed tribute to the women and
took Shinta, a boy long left behind, as his pupil.
"I have seen people close to me die. I do not want anyone else to die
like that."
"Just what do you THINK you're doing in Kyoto?! Look at this!"
Saizen draws his sword and it's normally moonlight mirror shine is
covered in a thin yellow-white layer with bits of red liquid running
down the blade. He cocks his head at the bodies strewn around them,
both ally and enemy.
"Do you not understand that, nomatter what you tell yourself or what
you tell me, these people are only going to see you as their killer?!
The one man that took their life, took the life of their friends, of
their brothers, their sisters, their mothers and fathers?! Why don't
you see what you're doing?"
"I... I..."
Saizen wipes his still dripping blade of the human oils and blood,
sheathing it slowly to let his words sink in. Finally he looks back up
at Kenshin, his silver eyes flashing with an understanding gained from
experiences inappropriate for one his age.
"Tonight I want you to fight me. And when it's over, tell me what you
are fighting for. Tell me if you understand."
The Tamoru child runs away while the Himura stares blankly.
"I'm... fighting for her."
He turns away from the battlefield and begins his trip to inform
Katsura of the progress.
--|-------
"So, can you come up with any reasons for me to allow you to stay
here?"
Saizen bows low, his left hand on the tsuba of his katana.
"No I cannot," he says, without even a side glance at the huddled form
crying in a dark corner of the room.
"Well then Tamoru-san, goodbye."
He pulls back up and walks over to the body in the corner and kneels
slowly. He places his thumb to the female face, cutting off the flow of
tears.
"Stop crying Amiko."
She looks up at him as he stands up and walks out the door. Less than
two mintues after Saizen is gone, tears begin falling again. The
innkeeper looks down at her daughter, a feeling of pity for Amiko in
her eyes. Rain begins to fall outside.
"Dry your eyes. We have work today."
--|-------
The sun rises slowly, casting a golden glow about the silver strands
atop a swordsman's head. This swordsman keeps his arms folded inside
his gi to guard his bare chest from the sharp wind of the chill autumn
morning. His eyes are focused on the ground about two feet in front of
him, taking in only his next step and disregarding all the people in
the street just beginning their day. He hears a heavy footstep and the
clink of a sword being dislocated from the scabbard head and glances
up. A group of warriors, about seven, all armed with katanas, step
forward as one toward Saizen.
"You, Tokugawa child, come with us."
In a voice so low it could barely be heard, with a rasp created by the
cold, Saizen replies,
"There are no Tokugawa children. Move."
A broad shouldered man steps from the back of the group, having been
unnoticed at first. He was a bit short and rather large, and armed with
two katanas.
"Come with us without argument and there will be no bloodshed today."
In the same quiet, feelingless voice, Saizen counters,
"The Tamorus walk a fine path of revenge against the Tokugawas. My
blood does not change my path. You eight stand in my path."
"Silence boy. We were told not to kill you."
Saizen dips his hands back into his sleeves and touches the hilt of his
katana.
"You won't."
He draws the sword and runs through the group, cutting down the seven
originally visible warriors. He stares the short one in the eye and
speaks even softer than before but much more maliciously.
"This is the end of the road for you. My path will end beyond your
corpse."
The man shakes his hands rapidly, backing up slowly.
"N-no!! Please, let me just... s-step out o-of your w-way."
Saizen swings his blade causing the blood and lighter oils to fly on
the small man's face.
"Beyond your corpse..."
He rushes forward and feigns a slash at the man's arm, the man stepping
back as Saizen reverses his fake slash and cuts the man's shins. The
already stub heighted man drops another ten inches and falls on his
back. Saizen stares down at the fallen swordsman. He almost finds
himself smirking before driving his blade through the man's throat.
"...lies the end of my path."
The crowd that had gathered to view the battle flee in several
directions as Saizen nears, running into buildings and alleys to avoid
his cold, silver, lightless gaze.
The sun catches on Saizen's hair as it reaches a point just over the
mountains, casting another golden halo about the boy.
--|-------
"Yoshinobu has sent out search parties for the Tamoru boy. This is the
oppurtunity to have him."
"Is he the Battousai, Master?"
Kongo looks up then, his small black eyes piercing any that would look
at them. He speaks for Saitou, directing the response to Okita Soushi,
but allowing others to hear.
"The Battousai has red hair."
Okita turns to Kongo.
"So who is Tamoru?"
Saitou, considering his young comrade's position, replies,
"A foolish boy brought into battle. We will be rid of him."
Okita glances at the taller captain and smirks.
--|-------
Kenshin sits silently in the restaraunt, taking in bottle after bottle
of sake and a small bowl of rice. His crimson bangs fall about his
lightly twisted face. He shuts his eyes tight to black the images
speeding through his mind in cycles. Every man he's killed that had
cried or begged for his life flashed by quickly and didn't return but
for every one of them, there were three that had fought to their deaths
and died silently, preserving whatever dignity they had. One face
seemed to hold an unknown signifigance to Kenshin, continuing to
reappear after every group of images. The night comes back to him
slowly.

"...so that shouldn't stop a man from being happy eh?"
The large man smiles broadly as a taller, younger man carrying a
lantern smirks lightly. A voice from the shadows echoes on the walls,
"You are Jubei Shigekura of the Kyoto Shoshidai, are you not?"
"Hm? Who are you?"
"I've come to bring the punishment you deserve."
"An assassin!"
A thick man that had been at the back of the group turns and draws his
sword. He takes high-katana stance and rushes at the boyish-appearing
swordsman. From where the two other men stood, there was a bright flash
of a quickly drawn blade, then the splitting of bones and the
splattering of blood on the wall soon accompanied by a large body. The
man that had rushed the young swordsman saw nothing more than a flash
then felt warm steel plowing through his spine, covered like icing on
cake in his blood. The last thing he sees before his body shuts down is
the boy dashing toward the men he sought to protect.
"n-no..."
The assassin is seen coming toward the older man and the bodyguard
carrying the lantern jumps forward. The old man pushes him back and
prepares to draw his katana,
"You can't die here!"
A blade comes from below, through his throat and out the top of his
head. The old man dies instantly, his eyes wide open and mouth gaping.
Soon after the assassin pulls the blade through the front of the worn
face and turns toward the remaining bodyguard. He runs and slides at
once toward him and slashes to the right. The bodyguard slips from the
swords path and draws his own. The assassin with the blazing red hair
turns his blood draped sword so the light caught and shined across his
cold, violet eyes.
"Give up or die here."
"I won't!"
The man quarter hops forward and misses the killer of his master, then
spins to try and catch his neck. The smaller swordsman guards and
counterattacks the strike cutting into the bodyguard's shoulder. They
continue to dance, the bodyguard, later to be identified as Kiyasato
Akira, taking cuts and thrusts across multiple parts of his body.
"I... can't... I refuse to die here!!"
The two run toward one another and slash at the same time. The
assassin, confident of his abilities, grows surprised when a line of
blood appears on his left cheek. Kiyasato falls to the ground, mumbling
the word "Tomoe" over and over. The assassin drives his blade through
the man's neck and pulls it back out as his inspector, Iizuka, comes
around the corner.

"Tomoe..."
Kenshin looks at his hands, wondering how he could have spilled so much
blood with only two of them. He mentally notes that he is destined for
Hell and rises, only to leave the building on a mission to take another
life.
"I... am fighting for Tomoe... right?"
--|-------
Saizen thinks of what he had drilled into Kenshin earlier that morning.
He remembers telling the other Mitsurugii swordsman to find what he was
fighting for and tell him. This order bothered him for a few moments as
he wondered what he himself was fighting for. Thoughts of what he had
said to the short man in the road come back to him and images of Amiko
flash in his mind. He nods as he ties his headband and dons his
uniform.
"Perhaps this is the end of my path."
--|-------
The moon rests high in the night sky, illuminating the world beneath.
Eighteen hours had passed since Saizen had confronted Kenshin on the
battlefield and now the two warriors stood facing each other. The man
with the title of Battousai, having had his fill of wondering what made
the former-hitokiri's stance different, dismisses all other thoughts
and focuses on what he believed to be one of the hardest battles of a
life that would be shortlived if he continued his line of work. The
swordsman stare deep into one another's minds, searching for answers to
questions never thought of. Amiko stops crying as Kenshin makes the
first attack.
A slash at Saizen from any other warrior would have been easily
countered, but this attacker was different, he fought all out in a
style the Tamoru child had only been sure of himself to use. This slash
had the power of a man wanting to live to protect behind it and knocked
Saizen off his balance for a second. In this second red hair is seen
spinning one way when a body twists the other. A blade comes deathly
close to the ex-assassin's throat. Saizen steps back just enough to
dodge but have attacking room and thrusts toward Kenshin's legs.
Expecting the Battousai to move left or right, Saizen circles his
attack and finds his target moving swiftly behind him. Silver hair is
suddenly closer to the earth than sandals just as a blade touches the
space a Tamoru's spine had been. Saizen finishes his flip and dashes
forward at Kenshin, hoping to finish the fight with a slash to the
stomach.
The warrior in white hakama and a blue haori jumps enough to step on
the swinging blade, following up with a downward slash to his quickly
falling opponent. Saizen rolls, kicking his heels into Kenshin's chest,
sending the hitokiri up several feet into the air and backward a few
yards. He lands on his shoulders as the other Mitsurugii warrior goes
from his back to his feet in a few seconds. When both are standing
again, they drop to ready positions, waiting for the next assault from
their opponent.
"So, Himura, what are you fighting for?"
"I told you. To protect those," he casts an unnoticed glance at Tomoe,
"important to me."
"I fight to take revenge on a foul government and I fight to defend
those that cannot."
Amiko begins crying again, taking Saizen's words personally. Tomoe
turns to her and comforts her for a few moments listening carefully to
the rest of the the mid-battle conversation.
"So, why do we fight one another when we both desire to defend?"
"You wouldn't understand. Let us test your 'battou-jutsu' Battousai."
Saizen stretches these last three words for great length, and adds a
cruel tone for the last word. He sheaths his katana and takes up a
running position. Kenshin takes the hint and does the same. He thinks
for a second of the beginning of their duel and finds the difference
about Saizen.
"You are left handed?"
The Tamoru child smirks,
"When I choose to be. Those that seek vengeance have... many secrets."
Saizen's battou stance is right handed and Kenshin notices this. He
takes up his running position, placing his right hand just below the
guard at the top of the hilt of his katana. Using his left hand thumb
he pushes the sword out of the saya a bit and waits for a moment.
The two charge at once and less than a second before they cross paths,
their swords flash in the strong moonlight. Each man continues running
for a few steps, before stopping with his sword still extended at arms
length. Both pairs of eyes close and one of the men drops to his knee.
The other falls over and feels warm liquid flow slowly from his
stomach. He blinks three times then coughs up a puddle of blood. The
spurt catches a lower hanging bang of his silver hair and he smiles
faintly. Kenshin holds his stomach with his arm, keeping in the tiny
trickle of blood that would become another scar of his days of war. He
rises from his knee and wipes his blade. Saizen speaks quietly from his
fallen position,
"It seems... you are faster than I. Do me one favor in honor of my
family."
Kenshin turns to face his former ally, his eyes lightly curious and
shining dimly from behind his red hair.
"End this war... make sure the Tokugawa end with me."
Kenshin nods and Saizen smiles. His eyes grow colorless and empty then
close with his final breath. Amiko cries harder as Kenshin walks to
Tomoe,
"I believe we were to go out this evening."
--|-------
"Sir, we just found out from that Choshu informant- the Tamoru boy has
been killed."
Saitou looks up, his cocky smirk dominating his lower face.
"Now we can focus on the man of the slashing sword. The Battousai's
head will be ours."

~ Owari ~
a/n: That is all friends, readers, whoever you happen to be in relation
to me. I hope you enjoyed the Fourteenth Master. Review if you would be
so kind.