Here's chapter one of my first Ruroni Kenshin fic (and
first fic in general for that matter).  It can also be
found along with a vocab index, introduction, and
other
miscellany at http://www.geocities.com/toshiakikirino
Any questions about the historical facts I'm basing
this on are welcome, there's a brief note about them
on my site now and I'll add more later









CHAPTER ONE

"Kai!" The shouts rose out of the woods, accompanied
by a loud crack as wood struck wood. "Kai!" Two
samurai approached the man. He was a tall, powerful
figure, dressed in the traditional hakama of a
samurai. His short black hair was slicked with sweat.
He stood swinging at a tree with a boken over and
over. Though the wooden sword was made of solid oak,
much straighter then normal boken, and lacquered for
added strength, it had numerous dents and marks. The
two men stood pensively as he continued to swing. 
"How long does he do this every day?" 

"He told me three thousand times in the morning and
eight thousand times in the evening." 

The man stopped for a moment, his boken still held
down after the latest swing. "What is it?" He asked. 
"Lord Toshiaki, Milady has asked us to tell you that
everyone has reported ready. They only await your
orders." 
"Alright. We'll begin the opening tomorrow." The two
samurai bowed and left quickly. The man straightened
himself up, and turned to the forest next to him. "And
are your men prepared as well?" A shadow from within
the forest moved very slightly, not quite enough to
pick out a form. "We have been waiting for this for
longer than you know." The forest area was still
again, impossible to tell whether the speaker had left
or merely re-merged with the cover. 
"Excellent." The man readjusted his sleeve, revealing
a large scar running up the length of his left
forearm. He swung again at the tree, and with a
shudder, the ten-inch diameter trunk split with a
tearing sound and fell to the ground. The man regarded
it only for a moment, then walked past it and began to
practice on another tree. He had much more to
complete, and one strong tree falling would not deter
him. "Kai!" the shouts continued to echo through the
forest. 

----- 

"You can understand why the government is so
concerned. So far we have managed to cover it up, but
how long can that last? We have good control of the
media, but they're pushing very hard to come out with
the story, and sooner or later some more antagonistic
people may get hold of the information. If it hasn't
been sent to them already." 
The two men were sitting in a large office, furnished
in the European style of most government offices of
the time. Although the man sitting behind the desk was
Toshiyoshi Kawaji, Commissioner of the Secret Police,
and was trying to act with all the inexcitability and
control that position implied, it was apparent that he
was very upset. This was exacerbated by the fact that
the man he was speaking to, by contrast, seemed
totally unperturbed. He looked off in the distance,
absently rolling a cigarette back and forth between
his fingers as he listened. Saito Hajime was used to
people unable to handle their anxiety. That was
usually when they called him in, after all. Finally,
he turned to the commissioner and spoke. "Why is there
so much concern? Who is to say they'll carry out their
threat? Or that they even have the resources to do it?
We know that at least one of the murders they claim
responsibility for, that of Okubo, was committed by
agents of Shishi-o, whom we have dealt with. That
doesn't suggest a strong conspiracy. The regular
police should be able to handle this." The
commissioner gripped the edge of his desk as he spoke.
"That one incident was a while ago, and I agree it was
unprofessional looking. But the past three days they
have been doing precisely what they said they would
do, and the police have been unable to stop them. They
have gotten very organized." Saito nodded, and put his
cigarette between his lips as he stood up. "Very well.
I'll look into it." 

----- 

The two opponents faced each other across the room.
Their sword tips were pointed precisely at the other's
eyes, making it impossible to judge the exact length
of the weapon. Their eyes narrowed as they edged up to
one another, moving back and forth just out of the
range of a strike, looking for an opening. With a
yell, one of the opponents stepped in, striking at the
wrist of his enemy to force the sword to drop in
defense or in a counter. As soon as the tip lowered,
he leapt backward out of range, while simultaneously
striking at the head with a yell. 
"Got you!" Yahiko yelled as he lowered his shinai to
his shoulder. He wiped his forehead betraying some
exertion, but continued to glow with the victory. 
"Not bad," said Kaoru, rubbing her forehead gently
where Yahiko's weapon had scored home. "You're really
getting better. You're starting to use skill instead
of just natural speed." Before Yahiko's head could get
too big, however, Kaoru was quick to add "Now let's
work on something hard." Kaoru walked over to the
shrine at the head of the dojo. She held her bamboo
shinai in front of her and performed a quick bow
before placing it on a rack of the practice swords on
the wall. She returned to the center of the floor and
faced Yahiko. She had the same stance she used when
holding her sword, with her feet shoulder width apart
and turned at slight angles away from the centerline
of her opponent, allowing her to fight multiple
opponents coming from different directions if she
needed to. Her arms were comfortably at her sides, a
little way out in front of her body. "Come at me." 
Yahiko had seen a little of the empty handed technique
in Kamiya Kasshin-Ryu before. It was alright, but as
far as Yahiko was concerned, it was a distraction from
sword practice, and he needed all the practice he
could get to be Good As Kenshin some day. He could
take care of himself unarmed when he needed to already
- after all, he had had to defend himself in street
fights since he was a kid. Still, it would be
interesting to see how she would handle herself. He
was sure that he'd be able to get a few good hits in
on her at least, and that would feel awfully
gratifying. "Right!" He yelled as he trained his sword
on her. With a yell he raised it high above his head
and charged. 
Kaoru stood calm and alert as Yahiko closed on her.
She remained utterly motionless until she saw Yahiko's
hands held above his head move farther back just
slightly in anticipation of a strike. Suddenly she
sprang forward toward him, lifting her hands up in an
arc. They came into contact with Yahiko's left elbow
and wrist, grabbing him lightly. Since Yahiko's arm
was already moving backward slightly in preparation
for the strike, she was able to twist the elbow into a
spiral motion as she dropped Yahiko to the ground. As
she did this, her hand was a like vise at his wrist,
keeping him from trying to swing the sword at her
legs. As they reached the ground, He had to let go of
the sword with his right hand, and was pinned prone
against the ground by his left arm, unable to use the
weapon it held. 

He was not amused. 

Kaoru looked down on him calmly "Knowing how to fight
an opponent unarmed is essential for complete
training. It's more then just street fighting. When
you first started here, we began with the sword, since
that would allow someone so young to have the most
protection. Now you're ready to start on the other
parts of Kamiya Kasshin-Ryu - unarmed combat and the
jo staff. It will improve your sword technique and
help you understand your movement better." 
A dark cloud rose above Yahiko. "Stop lecturing me,
you stupid troll, and let go already!" He tried to
rise again, but was still pinned at the shoulder.
Kaoru got a little smile on her face. �Well, first we
should decide who�s going to clean the dojo this
weekend�� A frustrated shout rose into the Tokyo sky� 

A few moments later Kenshin slid the door open and
leaned his head through. �Kaoru-dono, if you�re done
practicing, lunch is almost ready.� He smiled at the
two. All pretense of training or forms forgotten, they
stood facing each other, Kaoru�s left hand pushed
Yahiko�s face away as her right cocked back to attack.
Meanwhile Yahiko had one hand pulling on Kaoru�s arm
as he tried to kick her midsection. Kenshin�s
legendary flawless battle sense must have been
inoperative at the moment, because he seemed oblivious
to the fact that they were at each other�s throats as
he beamed close-eyed at them. 

----- 

They sat around the table, Kaoru and Yahiko on
opposite sides, glaring at each other, nursing a black
eye here, a sore jaw there. Still, the atmosphere
didn�t seem to dampen Yahiko�s appetite too much, nor
that of Sanosuke - the tall, thin man on his right,
elbowing Yahiko in every sore spot to get to the
remaining helping of fish faster. 

�Back off, you free loader!� 
�How much rent do -you- pay here?� 
�Quiet both of you! It�s my house, and you�re both
eating me into poverty. I�ll take the last piece.� 

Doctor Genzai laughed to himself as he sipped his tea,
Megumi soon to join them after finishing up at their
office. Kenshin just looked on and smiled. He was
truly happy here, and this constant bickering just
showed to him how much everybody loved each other.
Ayame and Suzumi ran up to the table and scampered off
again, now with rice balls in each hand. 

Sanosuke stared at Kaoru as she ostentatiously enjoyed
the last of the food. Deciding to ignore her, he took
a newspaper from inside his jacket. He read it for a
while, now actually ignoring everyone gathered around
the table, rather then just pretending to. After a few
minutes he let out a low whistle and threw the paper
face up on the table. "Kenshin, take a look at this."
Kenshin picked up the paper, faintly surprised. "Oro?"
Each page had a gorgeous picture in the Ukiyo-e style.
Interposed among these illustrations were articles
protesting various infractions by the government. But
it was the article on the page Sanosuke had left open
that made Kenshin pick up the paper and start reading.



Exclusive - One Government Worker A Day Will Be Killed
In the past five days, there have been as many murders
in the streets of Tokyo of government employees. Not
all high ranking members of the governing body, but
three police officers, one of whom was the battalion
chief in Kumamoto, a mail delivery serviceman, and one
of the top administrators for the engineers of the new
railroad. Swords killed all five. When asked,
government spokesmen claim that the events are
unrelated. But there have been rumors that the
government-sanctioned press knew more then they were
letting on. Now at last, we have managed to come into
possession of a document that was released to the
press three days before the killings began. This
document makes sense of the seeming randomness of
these attacks. Fortunately there are some in the media
who have some integrity, and though the government has
silenced everyone else, thanks to them we produce it
here, in its entirety: 

"We are the Shinpuren, the League of the Divine Wind.
We will not abide a government so corrupt. They claim
to have killed the only man capable of reforming this
government, so we will bring it down, for the good of
all the people. In a supervisory system so corrupt,
every person working to further its goals must be held
accountable for the actions of the whole. Therefore,
we will kill one government employee in uniform or
seen obviously carrying out government business a day.
No one of any level of involvement in the government
is safe, from the lowest functionary to the highest
seats of power. If a targeted government employee
stays home, he will not be attacked. We do not wish to
hurt individuals, only to stop this government's many
treasons performed in the Emperor's name, a name of
peace and enlightenment. We are the divine wind of
Dai-Saigo-Sensei, his hands and swords here." 

It is little wonder that the government has pressured
the media into silence. This document will surely
cause widespread panic and fear among anyone
associated even remotely with the government. Yet they
are either doing nothing about it, or are unable to
deal with this threat. The Shinpuren was the same
group who claimed responsibility for the death of the
then leader of the Meiji government, Toshimichi Okubo
almost a year ago, shortly after the death of the man
who had turned from his best friend to his pursued
foe, Takamori Saigo. If they cannot protect the most
important man in their government, what can less
important people expect? And what of this claim of
association with Takamori Saigo? 

The article went on after that, but Kenshin read no
more. "What's the matter?" asked Kaoru. Kenshin had a
dark scowl on is face. She leaned over to look at the
article. "Who is doing this? What is this 'Shinpuren'
group?" 
"When the Meiji government started moving arms from
Satsuma to Kumamoto because they feared a rebellion,
it was a group of Samurai calling themselves Shinpuren
- the league of divine wind - that first walked off
with the arms and later attacked the garrison at
Kumamoto. They were the first outbreak of the Satsuma
rebellion; the Seinan war." Kenshin was looking down
as he spoke. He told the story in a dull monotone, his
mind somewhere else. "There are still many feelings
left over from the rebellion. If they carry this out,
there will be chaos and killing throughout Japan
again." 
Kaoru looked at Kenshin "We should do something. My
father died in the Seinan war, trying to maintain
peace in the country. I..." before she could get
herself properly worked up into one of her righteous
calls to action, Kenshin abruptly got up from the
table and walked away, leaving everyone to stare after
him. "What's his problem?" Asked Sanosuke, looking
after Kenshin as he picked the paper up from the table
again. Rising, Sanosuke stuffed it back into his
jacket. He knew whom to ask about this, even if
Kenshin was going to go into one of his private moods.


Kenshin walked to his bedroom, more spartan even than
was called for in Japanese homes. No pictures, no
decorations of any kind. There was a book of Chinese
formal poetry that he occasionally looked at sitting
on a low table, a closet with his bedroll and other
miscellaneous belongings, and his sword. He looked at
the weapon; it�s dark saya sheathing the blade within.
He put his hand on the tsuka and drew the weapon,
watching the blade slide free with the unmistakable
sound of metal being drawn along a hard, smooth
surface. Rather then gripping the tsuka, he traced it
with his fingers. Somewhere underneath was the mei
dedicating this last work of one of the greatest sword
makers of all time. The Shin-U-Chi, made as a gift to
the gods and a new generation of peace. 
It had been a different sakabato then, but so similar.
He continued to hold the sword in front of him,
staring into it and remembering. 

----- 

Meiji 10, Satsuma 

They charged up the mountain, coming in waves of
units. The men defending the mountains did have some
rifles and even two cannons, each of which were
destroying groups of men. But aside from those
armaments, they could be from any war in Japan over
the last few hundred years, and except for the
relative lack of armor, the past thousand. Samurai had
their swords prepared to receive the charge, and
rained arrows down on the climbing men from secure
positions. The advancing army, however, was
unmistakably modern. They had swords of the European
style against their side, and in their hands were
rifles, grenades, and a few pistols in the hands of
officers. Behind them was a well-defended and
well-stocked army with cannons and other heavy
artillery, some of it hard to identify. 
The more modern weaponry was devastating the
defenders. Explosions shook the ground, and the
defenders in the more advanced positions on the low
land had to retreat until they were all on the more
easily held rocky mountain. The stalemate was forced
for a few more hours, but the attackers were
eventually forced back to their camp a few miles away.
Watching all this was a travel weary ruroni; the
bandage covering the two scars on his face making his
squint look sinister as he watched the battle below.
[It�s already so far gone] he thought. [I wish I could
have come here earlier. But there may still be
something I can do.] He looked back and forth at the
two camps, a silent debate being decided in his head.
Hefting up his bag, he moved along and down the
mountain toward the camp of the attackers. 

----- 

Sanosuke slid the door to his friend's house open,
looking in. "Katsu?" He asked. The normally tidy front
room had been transformed, every drawer thrown open,
every piece of paper thrown on the ground. "Katsu!"
Sanosuke yelled now as he rushed into the room. 
"What is it?" Asked a voice immediately behind him.
Sanosuke whirled around to see Tsukioka Katsuhiro
standing in the doorway, holding a wooden bowl with a
block of tofu in it floating in water, as well as
other groceries in a bag slung over his shoulder.
"What have you done to my house?" He cried, pushing
past Sanosuke. 
"Me? I just came here! It looks like a bomb exploded
in here�Come to think of it, maybe it was just one of
your little projects going off at accidentally." The
banter came easily to two who had spent their
childhood together, but there was still a note of
concern in Sanosuke's voice. "This was probably about
the latest issue of my paper. It was bound to raise a
few tempers. The government was desperate to cover
this up. I actually expected something like this. It
is the act of a group of people very afraid of losing
their hold on power." 
"Or it's a warning. They could plan violence against
you next time." 
"I doubt it. The issue has already had its effect. The
regular papers will be able to run with the story now,
so anything else done to me wouldn't solve anything.
This was more from frustration then anything else. I
can handle myself. Besides, the government is going to
have a lot more important things to worry about then
me very soon." 
Sanosuke was worried about his friend's confidence,
but for the moment he decided to say nothing. "What's
with these guys anyway? Just a bunch of samurai upset
that they couldn't get to Kagoshima in time to die
with Saigo in the rebellion?" 
"I don't think so. There's more going on. Protests
from unrelated organizations, individual acts of
terrorism, it's all happening at once. It's like they
sense some weakness and are moving in against the
government. Either that or these groups aren't
unrelated after all. I'm going to look into this more
and see what I can find out." 
Sanosuke looked in the other man's eyes. "Katsu, be
careful. I don't want to risk another of my friends
getting hurt by the government trying to clean up
loose ends, and these other guys don't sound like
they're playing around either. If you're gonna look
into this, I'm going with you.� His serious expression
broke into an easy grin �Besides, it'll be fun. Like
old times." Katsuhiro looked at him for a few long
moments before shaking his head. "A loud oaf like you
will make it impossible. But If it makes you feel
better, come on." 

----- 

�Rrrgh! This is ridiculous!� Kaoru scattered the
papers from the table. Her whole body rose and sank
with her breathing as she stared at the mess. It took
several minutes before she was able to drag herself
over to the papers, reorganize, and look at them
again. [Past Due. Final Notice. The bills just keep
piling up! It�s lucky my father left me the dojo
outright, or I�d be homeless by now. The bills here I
don�t actually mind too much. The ones I can't stand
not paying are from people like Tae and the grocer who
are too much my friends to send a bill.] She grimaced
as she placed the bills back into stacks of this month
and next month. �How can a school with someone as
gorgeous as me not get any students?� She cried out. 
She was kidding, mostly, but it was still a question.
Yahiko�s training was coming along, but that�s only
one person, and he wasn�t paying anyway. She had lost
her students when Gohei had been killing people and
telling everyone he was using Kamiya-Kasshin Ryu,
driving away the kind of pacifistic students her
discipline normally attracted, and bringing the kind
of student that she turned away after only a few
lessons. That situation was made even worse by the
fact that the famous Hitokiri Battosai was staying at
the dojo. Those kinds of students eager on learning to
kill she didn�t need, paying or no. But that was a
long time ago. Gohei had been disgraced and beaten
several times since then, and he certainly wouldn�t
dare to walk around and kill people in the name of
Kamiya-Kasshin Ryu or as the Hitokiri Battosai
anymore. And yet still people didn�t come. This was
unacceptable. 
She made some money teaching at the Tomizawa Kendo
dojo. They really liked her there. She could probably
get enough hours to deal with the bills if she asked.
But something had kept her from doing the smart thing.
No, not �something,� that was being dishonest. Working
full-time at someone else�s dojo would be admitting to
failure. And not just failing herself. Her father had
left her with the responsibility of the dojo. 
Her father�Maybe that was part of what was putting her
in this mood today. Most of the time she pictured her
father in the days when she was quite young. Not when
he went away to the Satsuma rebellion, or the Seinan
war as it was also called. 

�Chichi, I�m going with you!� A slightly younger Kaoru
looked up at her father, a strong, powerful looking
man. He looked calmly at his daughter, putting his
hand on her shoulder. 
�But then who will look after the dojo and the
students? Dansha-chan, my "little black belt", this is
not something I want to do. It is something I have to
do. It�s my duty.� 
�But we don�t use our Ryu to kill! You�ll have to if
you go to the war.� �I designed Kamiya-Kasshin Ryu to
be nonviolent. I will never use it to kill. But it is
designed for protecting those that I care about. And I
believe that this new government for all its faults
has the best chance for doing that. I will go to
Satsuma to defend it, and I will fight, in my own
fashion. My supervisors understand this, and I did
enough for this government in the Meiji rebellion that
they know I�m still useful to them. But this is not
something I want to involve my daughter in. Spreading
Kamiya-Kasshin Ryu�s ideas are at least as important
to the future as defending this government and its
opportunity to make things like our martial art
possible.� 

Her father, strong and sure of himself and protecting
the people he cared about. So like Kenshin. She had
never really thought about it before in quite that
way, but that same feeling of protection by a gentle,
kind strength, she felt it only when she was with her
father and when she was near Kenshin. But there was a
lot more to her feelings for Kenshin. She needed to
talk to finish some of the conversation she had with
him in Kyoto. 
At any rate it didn�t matter right now. Her father and
Kenshin had both left her to do what they thought was
right and to protect her. Kenshin had come back after
defeating Shishi-O, but her father never came back and
there was nothing she could do about it. Now she
wasn�t even keeping her promise to him. Well that at
least she would change, although all this nostalgia
hadn�t brought her any closer to figuring out how. She
had spoken to her former students. Some had started
other martial arts and weren�t interested in coming
back, and the rest were still disillusioned with
Gohei�s slayings. No, attracting new students was the
direction to go. She needed to publicize her dojo and
her Ryu. That should be possible, there were always
easy ways to demonstrate your martial art if it�s
superior to everyone else�s. She sighed as she stood
up and walked to the training hall to begin working on
her jo technique before Yahiko came for his lesson.
She certainly didn't want to look unprepared when she
showed him the weapon for the first time. She would
figure something out. She had to. 

----- 

Meiji 10 - Satsuma 

Kenshin looked over the camp. Slipping past the
advanced guards hadn�t been difficult. He didn�t want
to have to explain why he was infiltrating the camp to
simple soldiers just doing their job. The main camp
was well regulated, but massive. Different divisions
were in their various tents or existing buildings
commandeered for the purpose. Everyone was in the new
European-style uniform, although some had their formal
button up shirt open. There were also some exotic
items that ranged from the dangerous looking to the
bizarre. Large balloons, mines, cannons that looked
for too big to be necessary to Kenshin, and
unrecognizable metal contraptions. Kenshin certainly
wasn�t used to this sort of war, but it still wasn�t
too difficult for someone so recently involved in an
armed conflict to see where the command centers were. 
He approached the two-story, centrally located stone
building that must have been the main structure when
this was a town, rather then a blasted-out ruin.
Creeping through the shadows he got closer to the
building, dodging the soldiers as they got
increasingly numerous. He silently climbed up the
wall, the task made easy by holes and cracks all over
it. He got up to a window and crept inside. 
His way through the building was interrupted by the
repeated necessity of hiding whenever a group of men
came by. The general tone of their gossip implied that
they thought the war would be over soon, and another
sentiment that made Kenshin worry. 

"Those rebel bastards! We'll root out the rest of them
soon enough." An angry man was speaking to a fellow
officer as they walked past Kenshin, moving outside. 

"We'll kill every last one of them," The man's
compatriot agreed. "Raising arms against the emperor!
Takamori Saigo is the most ungrateful wretch to come
out of this backward region." 

Kenshin looked darkly after the retreating forms as he
moved out of the shadow from the doorway. This hatred
for the other side by erstwhile comrades, despite
having been brothers-in-arms with them less then a
year ago was virulent. No, Kenshin thought to himself.
If the Meiji restoration had taught him anything, it
was that this hatred was so intense because of their
former alliance. And it would have to be controlled or
there would be many unnecessary deaths. 
Kenshin's thoughts wandered along these lines as he
continued to surreptitiously search through the
building for the general to this army. He came to a
sort of indoor balcony on the second floor that
wrapped around the main room on the ground floor. From
up here he had a perfect vantage to see a large map
spread out on the table, and uniformed officers
consulting it. He'd found what he wanted, but how best
to announce himself without having a sword drawn on
him or, much worse, being shot at? Even when the
introductions had taken place, he wasn't sure what
kind of a reception they would offer him, but he had
to try. 
This question absorbed most of his concentration when
the feel of a sharp point pressing into his back made
the problem moot. "Oro?" 

"Raise your hands away from your sword." The sharp
point in his back commanded. "Sir! An intruder!" 


END CHAPTER ONE


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