All characters belong to Watsuki. This messes up
continuity, but if you don't know about the
Revenge Arc don't read this. All comments public
and private would be appreciated.
Doppleganger
They were not very well trained soldiers, but
they did possess enough talent so as to
suggest they weren't from the regular military.
They surrounded the area around him, but came
no further than where the trees stopped.
They were smart enough to not get in too close,
but then he thought they weren't smart enough
to stay at home. Judging from how many men were
around him, Kenshin felt that it wouldn't take more
than fifteen seconds to get rid of them.
Drawing his blade Kenshin made a slash in the
snow. "To come here is surely suicide. I shall grant
your wish of death," he said while narrowing his
yellow eyes. He almost smiled as he felt a wave
of fear ripple through the soldiers. The smile
dissappeared when he heard the light rustling
of clothes that was almost right behind him.
"Fu, fu. Battousai, the only one to grant such
wishes is me."
Turning around Kenshin could not believe
what he saw, but knew that it was
not an illusion. Standing in front of him was a
man dressed in a shroud and Chinese clothes
who was at the moment pushing the frame of
his glasses up his nose. What shocked Kenshin
was the hair of the man. It was just
as white as it was the day they had last met.
All the while Kenshin stared at him the man smiled
and gently pulled out a sword from the satchel held over
his shoulder.
"Yukishiro Ennishi. I thought that you had died,"
Kenshin said as he glared at the white haired man.
"Just because you leave someone for dead
doesn't mean that they are, Battousai," Ennishi said
while twirling his blade around in circles.
Placing his own blade back into its scabbard
Kenshin said,"If I had known you would
come back like this I would have invested more
time trying to kill you."
"Like you did my sister?" Ennishi said this
time his smile replaced with a look of unabashed
hatred.
Kenshin smiled and said,"Your sister betrayed
me to the Yaminobu. I had to kill her for that."
Ennishi looked at Kenshin and said,"The time
of your reckoning is here Battousai. The greatest
killer in all Japan who slew every swordsman who
crossed his way. After ten years of sensely murdering
through this world you decided to live here, but your
sword is still sharp enough to kill any fool who
approaches you. That is until now."
"Enough with these histrionics. Have you come
to fight or talk?" Kenshin said cooly.
Ennishi smiled and threw off his cloak
and shirt,"Then let's go."
Kenshin pulled his katana from his scabbard
at near lightning speed and was met with...air.
Jumping back Kenshin barely avoided the sword
strike from the crouching man. Kenshin tried to
strike Ennishi on the head, but was met by the
latter's blade.
Twisting his left foot Ennishi made a powerful
kick to his blade knocking Kenshin into
the air. Kenshin hurtled through the air, but managed
to twist himself so as to land feet first in the snow.
Throwing himself back at Ennishi Kenshin charged
with a crescent stroke aimed at disembowling the
younger man.
Ennishi managed to dodge the blow, but not the
second one which created a bloody streak against his
chest. Jumping back from Kenshin, Ennishi grabbed
the end of his blade with his left hand while keeping a
tenuous grip on the handle with his right. Pulling the blade
into a near semi-circle Ennishi let go sending the katana
into Kenshin's thigh. Kenshin took a small leap backwards
and gazed into the eyes of his opponent.
"How ironic to send a murderer to bring justice." Kenshin said.
Ennishi raised an eyebrow and said,"Oh, you can
tell all that from just looking into my eyes? You are
good, Battousai."
"You're better than I thought, but now it's time for
me to get serious, Ennishi."
"You took the words right out of my mouth," Ennishi
said and his face and body were suddenly covered in
tree like vines. Kenshin took a step back at what
he saw and said,"What are those?"
"Nerves of Insanity," a voice from behind Kenshin
said. Blinking, Kenshin noticed that Ennishi was no
longer standing in front of him. The cold breath
seemed to pour down Kenshin's back and he
could almost feel the grin coming across Ennishi's face.
"I gained this ability because of you Battousai. If
you hadn't killed my sister I would never have been
able to gain this power, but as you said we shouldn't
waste so much time talking when we have swords
to do that for us."
A slash was all Kenshin heard. A flicker of light
was all that he saw. And soon death would become
all that he knew. The blood came bursting out of his
stomach onto the snowy ground. Kenshin looked
down as the pristine landscape became tainted
with his blood. His sword dropped to the sword as
he fell down to his hands and knees.
He could hear Ennishi lowering himself to look
into his eyes and if Kenshin had the strength he
would have returned the look. Besides Kenshin's
gagging on his own blood there was no sound
at all. Finding some hiden reserve of strength
Kenshin pulled his head up to look into the eyes of
Yukishiro Ennishi and was surprised.
They held none of the malice that he had seen
during their fight and the nerves had all disappeared
from his face. Now all that was left was a look of cuirousity.
"You knew," Ennishi said quietly.
Kenshin coughed up some blood and said,"Knew what?"
"You knew she didn't betray you."
Looking into his eyes Kenshin said,"Yes.
After I killed her... I found out."
"The murders, the mayhem... None of it was
because she betrayed you. Why?"
Kenshin felt his intestines oozing out as he
said,"Because it is... easier to live as
a monster who kills for no reason... than to live
as a man who kills recklessly." The
last words were punctuated by a huge gob of
blood spilling out of his mouth and his face falling
into the snow. Ennishi looked at the newly made
corpse and stood up.
Walking away from the scene he could hear the
soldiers jumping onto the corpse stabbing at it
with their swords each trying to make a claim as
the killer of the Hitokiri Battousai.
Ennishi saw the police officer who had organized
the whole meeting standing at the forest's
outer edge. He held a suitcase in his hand which
he put forward when Ennishi walked up to him.
"Here is the bounty for taking care of this
matter," the balding man said. Looking at
the suitcase Ennishi said,"That won't be necessary."
The officer seemed noticeably relieved at that
and said,"I'm glad you said that. The last thing our
government can do is pay off a huge bounty on that
killer's head."
Hearing the commotion he said,"Those
mercenaries however will all want the reward though."
"It's your own fault for not trusting my abilities."
The officer seemed to boil over the comment, but refrained
from saying anything harsh to the young
swordsman. "At least this signals the death of a monster."
Throwing his sunglasses off, Ennishi
said,"If it were only that simple."