Tanuki To Ryuu

Well here it is, Chapter 5!   In a way it's a milestone.   I'm proving I

can get this fic out!   Don't ask me how many parts this fic will have.
It will go on until I feel its done.   Also, anyone who wants to, PLEASE

e-mail me or contact me by AIM or ICQ!   Fan response is greatly
appreciated!

Chapter 5: The First Test of Succession

***

        It was only three days since Kenshin started training her for
her final tests and Kaoru was amazed at her progress.   She was amazed
she never noticed the subtle flow of ki through everyone and how much it

could reveal.   At the moment, she was standing in the center of the
dojo with a blindfold over her eyes and held her shinai out, ready for
the lesson Kenshin cooked up for her.

        Kaoru swiftly held her shinai high and to the right, and
successfully blocked one strike, then pushed her opponent back and
quickly blocked another strike low and to the left.   Kenshin said that
today's lesson in ken-ki would be a surprise, but she didn't expect a
sparring partner.   She felt someone try to strike her high and from
behind and she spun around and striked where she suspected the opponent
to be and heard a loud grunt in pain as her shinai made contact with her

attacker.   She then sensed someone else from her left side and low also

about to attack and rolled out of the way and responded with a jab in
what she hoped was the chest and heard another grunt of pain.

        "Alright, Kaoru," Kenshin's voice said, "You can take off the
blindfold."   Kaoru removed her blindfold and saw both Yahiko and Yutaro

on the dojo floor, both laid there with shinais grasped in their hands
and both moaning in pain.

        "I was fighting both of them?   At once?   Blindfolded?" Kaoru
asked, shocked at what she acomplished.   She couldn't believe she made
this much progress in that extra sensory perception.

        "Well, you ARE their master," Kenshin pointed out, "And its not
like its something you didn't know how to do.   All swordsmen can
subconsciously sense ken-ki, its just you needed to fine-tune your sense

a bit,"

        Kaoru smiled at Kenshin and replied, "I guess you're right.
So, I guess we can head out to the Akabeko for dinner tonight?"

        "Sounds like a good idea.   What about those two?" Kenshin asked

as he gestured to Kaoru's two students as they tried to catch their
breath.

        "Yahiko!   Try to teach Yutaro a few of the intermediate forms
and try to get him up to speed," Kaoru ordered.   "And you two better
not kill eachother!"

        Yahiko stumbled on his feet and used his shinai as a crutch to
support himself.   "Alright, Kaoru.   Come on, cat-eyes, get up!   I
have to teach you!" Yahiko said as he nudged Yutaro with his foot.

        Yutaro stumbled up to his feet as well.   "Don't push your luck.

As soon as I'm properly trained again, I WILL beat you,"   The two
students glared at eachother as Kenshin and Kaoru left the dojo.

***

        Kenshin and Kaoru walked out of the gate, dressed for the cold
autumn weather.   Both were making an attempt to ignore the loud
crashing sounds that were coming from the dojo.   Kenshin walked in
extreme close proximity to Kaoru for both warmth and her protection.
The leaves were turning and some even began to fall and the wind had a
small chill to it.

        As the couple walked through the streets of Tokyo, a familiar
voice shouted out to Kaoru again.   "Kaoru!   Kaoru, its me, Hiriko!"
the familiar bustling voice said.   Kaoru and Kenshin turned to see
Hiriko dragging a man they both assumed was her husband.   "Ah, Kaoru,
this is my husband Shinya.   Shinya, this is a childhood friend of mine
and her fiancee,"

        "Good to meet you two" Shinya said with a slight bow.   Kaoru
was still stunned that her childhood friend introduced herself and
Kenshin as an engaged couple.

        "Hiriko, Kenshin and I aren't," Kaoru began before Kenshin cut
her off.

        "We aren't telling anyone yet," Kenshin finished for Kaoru as he

put his hand on her shoulder.   "We were hoping to keep it a secret
until the spring," Kenshin answered.   Kaoru looked at him with a
surprised look in her eyes and Kenshin returned the look with one that
basically said 'I'll explain later'.

        "Oh, so you two are planning a ceremony in the early summer?"
Hiriko asked in an excited tone.

        "Something like that, yeah," Kaoru answered after she decided
that it was best to go on with Kenshin's plan until she could talk to
him in a calm collected way about this 'engagement'.   "Well, we both
have to get going.   We're meeting a friend for dinner." Kaoru exclaimed

as she grabbed Kenshin's arm and started dragging him in the direction
to the Akabeko.

        "Alright, Kaoru!" Hiriko shouted in return, dragging her husband

off in the opposite direction.   "We should have dinner together
sometime!"   And with that, Kaoru's gossiping childhood friend
disappeared into town.

        "Kenshin," Kaoru whispered harshly while trying not to draw
attention to the two of them, "can you explain to me why we are suddenly

engaged?"

        "Oro?   You mean you didn't notice?" Kenshin answered,
surprised.   "Do you only use your new sense in the dojo?   Someone's
spying on us from the rooftop.   He's pretty good.   I could take him in

half a minute.   You would have difficulty against him though.   If he
hears we're engaged, then checks who I am and hears from rumor that I'm
the Battousai, he might back off,"   Kaoru looked at Kenshin with a sour

look on her face, but didn't argue.   Instead she stretched out with her

mind.

        "To the... left of us?" Kaoru asked.   Kenshin smiled at Kaoru
and nodded.

        "Very good," Kenshin answered.   "Pretty soon, you shouldn't
need to concentrate to use it."   Kaoru shuddered slightly at the
thought of that.   Her mind open to the emotions and intentions of those

around her to the point of anticipating every action was astounding,
even frightening.
'But,' she thought, 'it's a price to pay for being a kenjutsu master and

I'll pay it gladly,'

***

        "You are, by far, the worst teacher ever!" Yutaro yelled at
Yahiko.   Yahiko sighed and slapped his head again.

        "Its not my fault you can't do it!" Yahiko answered.   "Look,
I'll show you again, SLOWLY," Yahiko said in a deliberatly condescending

tone.   "First you step inside your opponent's  reach and raise your
blade into the armpit." Yahiko made the appropriate gesture and held it.

"Then, you shove up and forward to dislocate the arm," Yahiko instructed

as he finished the form.   "This is the first of twenty forms of Kamiya
Kasshin Ryuu designed to disable an opponent's limb.   It is also the
easiest of the twenty.   If you can't do it, then you should give up,"
Yahiko taunted.

        "The problem," Yutaro stated as he held his shinai in his left
hand trying to duplicate the form, "is that you aren't showing me the
correct leverage."   Yutaro slid his hand closer to the handguard on the

shinai and did the form again with more precision.   "Your hand is
closer to the end of your shinai, which works because your right arm is
stronger than your left arm.   I'm still working on mine, if you didn't
forget," Yutaro looked at Yahiko menacingly.

        "Well, tough," Yahiko answered.   "You either learn or you
don't.   Now do it again 50 times, with the end of the hilt.   You have
to learn how to do a swing using the hilt.   Most of Kamiya Kasshin
Ryuu's advanced techniques are hilt related, and you better remember
that," Yahiko said snidely.   Although Yutaro showed amazing talent,
even with his non-dominant hand, it would take him a month or two to
reach Yahiko's current level.

        Yutaro gave Yahiko a dirty look but complied.   "Alright, but
remember you aren't my teacher, Kamiya-sensei is.   I'm only listening
to you because she told me to,"

        "Well, you aren't good enough to say otherwise, are you?" Yahiko

answered with an evil grin on his face.   That's when the dojo door
bursted open and a strange man walked in, dressed for battle in heavy
coats designed for winter and a large straw hat.   He had a katana on
his belt, but the hilt was just the tang of the katana with some light
cloth wrappings over it.   Yahiko took immediate notice that the man
still wore his shoes.   "Hey, don't' come in here wearing shoes!   Don't

you have any manners?" Yahiko shouted at the rude guest.

        "Where is the Kamiya woman?" the man asked gruffly as he ignored

Yahiko's protests.

        "She's in town," Yutaro answered.   He recognized this behavior
immediately.   This man was a dojo destroyer, much like the one that
robbed him of the use of his right arm.   "Come back tomorrow and she'll

deal with you then," Yutaro said with extreme caution.

        "Too bad she'll come back to find her only students dead," the
man said as he drew his blade.   The man's statement gave Yahiko and
Yutaro enough time to back a good distance away from the man.   Yahiko
immediately grabbed two bokkens from a rack and tossed Yutaro one of
them.   Yutaro caught the bokken in his left hand and both stood side by

side, ready to combat this new foe.

***

        Kenshin and Kaoru were walking home from a rather strange dinner

at the Akabeko.   Apparently, word spread quickly and right when Kenshin

and Kaoru got to the Akabeko, the word of their engagement already
reached Tae.   Tae threw a small celebration and gave them their meal on

the house.   Tae even went as far as to chat with Kaoru for half an hour

over ceremony details.   Kaoru's face reached shades of red she never
knew were possible.

        Kenshin, though, was glad that the rumor spread so quickly.   It

meant that whoever that threatened Kaoru would most likely flee in
terror.   He knew he had to make up for all the embarassment this false
engagement was giving Kaoru, but he wasn't sure what would make up for
it yet.   As the two of them neared the dojo, Kenshin's face changed
expression and he started running.   Kaoru realized Kenshin sensed
something and she too ran.   Kaoru concentrated and sensed that there
was a battle going on from inside the dojo.

        Kenshin didn't bother to open the gate and leapt over the outer
wall.   Kaoru stopped outside the gate and stopped for a moment.   She
took a deep breath, then tensed her legs and leapt up.   She only
reached the height to grab the roof of the gate, but she used her upward

momentum to pull herself up and leap down on the other side of the gate.

Kaoru ran towards the dojo and prayed she wasn't too late.

***

        Inside the dojo, both Yahiko and Yutaro had minor cuts and
bruises from their fight.   The challenger's weapon was one of the
strangest Yahiko ever saw.   The first three inches of the blade on the
challenger's katana was dull, which made it seem like a rather poor
weapon, at least until the challenger unwrapped the tang of his katana
and slid it into the iron sheath.   The new weapon had controllable
range and the ability to switch from cutting to blunt attack in a mere
moment.   The man's attack patterns were circular and narrow.   Yahiko
didn't have the oppritunity to use the ougi yet, and doubted he would
have a chance.   Downward strikes just didn't seem to be in the
challenger's style.

        Yutaro never was in a life or death fight before, so he followed

Yahiko's lead.   They tried to attack from opposing sides and from high
and low at once, but the challenger's speed and strength was too great.
Yutaro felt the blood drip down his nose from the small cut he received
and knew that the both of them couldn't last any longer.   That was when

in a gust of wind the dojo's doors slammed open and the challenger was
knocked clean out of the dojo and into the yard.   Yutaro looked up and
saw Himura Kenshin sheath his sword and look at himself and Yahiko.

        "Are you two alright?" Kenshin asked.   Kaoru stood near the
door of the dojo as she observed the attacker stand up from Kenshin's
attack.

        "Kenshin," Kaoru shouted, "its Akiro the Destroyer!"   Yutaro
and Yahiko noticed the temperature in the dojo seemed to drop as Kenshin

got up and walked slowly out of the dojo.

        "Ah, that Kamiya bitch did find a boyfriend afterall," Akiro
said with an evil grin as he spun his weapon around.   "I trained for a
year to kill you after you hulimiated me, woman!   I challenge you to a
fight!"   Kaoru held up her hand to stop Kenshin from moving any
further.

        "Kenshin," Kaoru said, "he challenged me.   I know you're
worried, but please don't be.   I can take him," Kaoru finished with a
smile towards Kenshin.

        "Of course you can take him.   I see your sense is getting
better at determining skill as well," Kenshin answered.   "But, you are
in a kimono, so your mobility will be limited slightly.   So, I shall
give you an edge," Kenshin pulled the sheathed sakabato from his belt
and handed it to Kaoru.

        Kaoru looked at Kenshin and asked, "Are you sure?"   Kenshin
smiled at her reassuringly and she took the sword from his hands and
held it to her side.   Kaoru walked out in the yard to face Akiro the
Destroyer once again.   "Akiro," Kaoru announced, "this is your only
chance to back down,"   The man laughed at Kaoru, so she slowly
unsheathed Kenshin's sakabato and pushed the sheath in her obi.   Kaoru
held the sword in a conventional ready position and felt slightly
overwhelmed by the weight of it.

        Akiro the Destroyer didn't give Kaoru any extra time to ponder
her weapon as he swung from the side with his strange weapon.   Kaoru
leapt back and moved to circle from the side to make use of the opening
a large swing makes when Akiro finished the swinging motion and jabbed
the end of his iron sheath from behind his back.   Kaoru saw her chance
to early on effect the outcome of the battle and grabbed the iron sheath

with her left hand and yanked hard.   The sheath slid free from the
katana's tang and Kaoru threw it as far away as possible.   Kaoru
stepped back from Akiro's range again and switched the sakabato to both
hands again.

        "So you have been getting better," Akiro said with an evil grin.

"That makes my revenge that much sweeter,"   Akiro feinted an attack but

instead kicked a large amount of dirt into Kaoru's face.   Kaoru felt
her eyes burn slightly and chose not to open up her eyes to let the
blurred images distract her.   She sensed the attack from the left and
leapt out of range, then a strike from the low right and moved her head
out of the way.   "You can't count on luck forever, so you might as well

die now!" Akiro shouted in anger.

        "What's the matter?" Kaoru taunted back, "Can't kill a woman
dressed in a kimono, so you had to blind her?   And even then, you can't

make a strike?"

        "DIE BITCH!" Akiro shouted as he prepared from an overhead
slice.   Kaoru sensed it coming and was ready for it.

        "Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu Succession Technique!" Kaoru cried as she
locked Akiro's blade inbetween the back of her two hands, effectively
locking his power.   "Hi-Watari!"   Kaoru then unlocked the technique by

using the sakabato's hilt as leverage and Akiro's power to fling Akiro
the Destroyer into the ground with a loud thud.   Kaoru sensed her
opponent was unable to move any further for the night so she pulled the
sheath of the sakabato from her obi and returned the sakbato into its
sheath.   "Kenshin?   Some help here?" Kaoru shouted as she started to
blink her eyes to get the dirt out.   Kenshin came back with a small
bucket of water and helped Kaoru to clean out her eyes.

        "So, what did you think?" Kenshin asked as he took back his
sakabato.   Kaoru blinked her eyes a bit more as she splashed some water

in her face.

        "Oh, your sakabato feels really comfortable.   I'm amazed at its

balance," Kaoru answered.   Kenshin gave Kaoru a puzzled look then
jestured towards Akiro the Destroyer, who was being tied up by Yahiko
and Yutaro.

        "That's not what I meant," Kenshin answered with a smile.   "I
meant 'what did you think when you passed the first test to mastery?'"
Kaoru looked slightly shocked.

        "Do you really think that could be considered passing the first
test?" Kaoru asked.

        "Its better," Kenshin answered.   "In combat, factors change and

you never face the same enemy twice.   Kaoru, I've been living with you
for almost a year, so you are familiar with my ken-ki.   Believe it or
not, this battle was a better test of your ken-ki sense than trying to
spar with me blindfolded."

        Kaoru looked at Kenshin sceptically.   "I somehow doubt that,
even if I am 'familiar' with your ken-ki, a battle with you would be
easier than a battle with Akiro.   But, if you think I passed the test,
then I passed the test,"

***
That's Chapter 5!   Comments/Suggestions?   Oh, and people: Please do
try to visit my website at http://tanukitoryuu.anifics.com/   Also
remember to try and chat with me on AIM or ICQ.   Oh, and please e-mail
me too!   Fans are what makes writing Fanfics worth while!



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