[FFML] [fic][rk][cont][rewrite] Rurouni Yahiko Chapter 4: The Two Prodigies

[Abdiel]

"Tsk, tsk. It was an unfortunate waste of time. Oh well. Maybe next time
I'll catch up with him," the well-dressed boy reckoned cheerfully,
cleaning his blade nonchalantly. "He certainly works fast, I give him
that."

Footsteps were heard from around the bamboo groves where the young
swordsman was standing. Another young boy of medium build carrying a
sword met up with the ever-smiling lad. "Hey! Who are you? What are you
doing here?"

'Strange. No one is supposed to detect me. Oh, it's him!' the older boy
noted casually as he surveyed the person addressing him. "Good evening!
I remember you from the soba shop!"

Yahiko was caught off-guard by the merry greeting. "Ah, so you're the
weird guy from the soba shop. The only other customer," he commented,
but his eyes suddenly darkened as he saw the young man's bloodied
katana. "Who would have thought that I actually chanced upon a
psychopath that had a soba fixation? For the last time, who the hell are
you? Why did you kill all those men?"

A muted thud was heard. Both of the young men looked over the direction
where the soft sound originated. It was Kyoko, her eyes wide with
bewilderment and incredulity as her beloved Fuyutsuki fell on the
ground. "No. Soujiro-kun! Not you!"

"Y-You know this guy?" Yahiko hesitantly asked Kyoko.

"Of course! I haven't introduced myself," the older boy realized as he
calmly sheathed his sword. He clapped his hands excitedly as he
addressed Yahiko in a courteous manner. "My name is Seta Soujiro. It's a
pleasure to meet you."


________________________________________________________________________


Rurouni Yahiko
A Rurouni Kenshin Continuation fic
By Chester Castañeda
chester.castaneda at gmail.com
gabriel_gabdiel at yahoo.com
http://www.fanfiction.net/~abdiel

A fight between two counterparts.

________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 4: The Two Prodigies
________________________________________________________________________



Soujiro Seta smiled pleasantly at Yahiko Myojin, bowing as if he was
politely addressing an old friend. "I'm really sorry for the mess. What
a dreadful thing to happen. Well, I don't mean to be rude, but I have to
get going."

"The HELL you will!" Yahiko shouted out as he unwrapped the cloth-bound
sakabatou, waking an apparently shocked and surprised Kyoko Sakaguchi
out of her dazed trance. "You have a lot of explaining to do, Psycho-
Kid!"

"Oh? I'm not a psycho-kid," Soujiro disagreed, blinking at Yahiko's
statement. He soon after beamed, laughing daintily. "That's silly. I'm
already twenty-four. I'm not a kid anymore."

'...Which means he didn't deny the 'psycho' part at all?' Yahiko
reflected incredulously, making him pause from completely unsheathing
his sword at mid-draw. He subsequently sweatdropped as the supposed
twenty-four year old clasped both of his hands together in apparent
enthusiasm.

"I almost forgot to ask! What's your name?" Soujiro queried pleasantly.

"Uh, Yahiko. Myojin Yahiko--" Yahiko blinked.

"Hey! Stop that!" the Tokyo Samurai Progeny demanded as Kyoko mutely
looked at the two swordsmen back and forth, unwilling to interrupt their
discussion.

"Stop what?" Soujiro confusedly tilted his head in askance, his eyes
inquisitive and innocent.

Yahiko winced at the expression Soujiro made. It reminded him of Kenji
whenever the little boy sucked up to Kaoru. He certainly didn't like
seeing it on the face of a weird stranger. He also didn't quite like the
sound of 'Yahiko-san' coming from the mouth of a murderer.

"I meant, 'Stop your little mind games!' Enough with the 'I'm an
innocent, wandering swordsman that wouldn't hurt a fly' act! I've
already seen someone else do that act, and quite frankly, I'm not
falling for it anymore! You can't fool me so easily!"

'He'd already seen someone do that act?' Soujiro mused to himself. To
Yahiko, he commented, "I see."

'It's weird to see two relative strangers act so familiarly with each
other. Is this anything like what grandfather said to me about the
mutual feeling of brotherhood between all swordsmen?' Kyoko wondered to
herself.

Soujiro didn't look at all nonplussed as Yahiko finally brandished his
sword. He gave the sixteen year old a clear, steady look. "I'm truly
sorry, but this isn't an act. I really have no intention of staying.
There's nothing of interest for me here."

Soujiro gave Yahiko a sidelong glance as he left. "See you later,
Yahiko-san."

The spike-haired youth just stood there in shock and silence for a
couple of minutes as the ever-smiling young man made his way to the
exit of the bamboo forest. The young Myojin then repeated his earlier
credo; a phrase that explained concisely what he was about to do.

"The hell you will," he whispered as he charged at Soujiro with a
jumping strike.


***


Soujiro appeared like he was just a little more than puzzled after he
turned to face the charging Yahiko. However, the hand on the hilt of his
sword didn't even suffer a hint of hesitation as it executed a perfect
battoujutsu strike.

A reverberating clang was heard from the two colliding swords. 

Yahiko seemed to arrest his downward descent as he spoke, declaring, "I,
Myojin Yahiko, Acting Master of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, challenge--"

Yahiko paused in mid-sentence as he saw the chilly smile on Soujiro's
saintly face. His eyes went wide as he found himself unceremoniously
pushed back a couple of feet away by the older boy with just a simple
flick of the sword.

Yahiko tried to catch up with his breath as he recovered from the recoil
of Soujiro's counterattack. 'Whoa. With just one move, he was able to
push me away like an empty wicker basket,' he mused as he backed a few
more steps away from the jovial swordsman. 'He was also able to block my
two-handed sword strike with just a one-handed counter.'

Yahiko instantly fell into his usual Joudan-no-Kamae stance, eyeing his
opponent warily. 'Speed and power combined; who is this Psycho-Kid?' He
glanced at his back as he heard a feminine gasp of shock. 

Kyoko's eyes shimmered as she just stood there, her agape mouth covered
by a trembling hand. "Soujiro-kun," she whispered softly.

Yahiko had just turned his attention back to the situation at hand when
his opponent addressed him, stating, "I admit, it was a skillful strike
and your form was impeccable. Your kenjutsu is quite good."

The distressing smile Yahiko saw on Soujiro's face a while ago returned
as the merry young lad casually put his blade on his shoulder. "But you
seem to misunderstand one thing, Yahiko-san."

"Eh?" Yahiko exclaimed cagily. "What are you talking about, Psycho-Kid?"

"I will give you a demonstration to show the difference between the two
of us." Soujiro nodded to himself astutely, adding, "I will show you the
difference between you and me."


***


A few seconds later, Yahiko clutched his stomach in agony as he
struggled to keep himself up although his legs were feeling as wobbly as
tofu. 'What the hell just happened? One minute, I was just talking to
Psycho-Kid, the next--' He gave the subject of his roundabout musings a
glare, despite it looking more like a pained wince.

The Acting Master of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu cursed under ragged breaths,
flinching at the blurry image of Soujiro Seta before him, standing there
all "smiley-smiley" and some such. Yahiko was beginning to really hate
that annoying smile.

'How in the world did he...?' Yahiko pondered as he desperately tried to
recall what had just occurred the last few moments.

A shout. Yahiko definitely remembered a shout. It was a shout of wonder,
gleefulness, and juvenility that was curiously laced with undertones of
malice. The shout's description matched the apparition from which it
came.

"I accept your challenge, Myojin Yahiko of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu!" the
apparition answered with deceptively angelic tones.

Apparition. It was an appropriate description for the "Psycho-Kid" as he
unpredictably charged at Yahiko. He was just like a specter; a phantom
of some sort. It certainly was the case as he disappeared midway in his
dash like a ghost.

He also remembered the sound of rapid beatings on the ground. It was
like the buzz of a large dragonfly's flapping wings when it neared one's
ear.

Yahiko had idly wondered at the time if Soujiro's technique was anything
like Takae's invisibility trick. 

It wasn't.

It wasn't like anything he had ever seen before. It was different;
completely different. Those were the thoughts in Yahiko's head as he
skidded away from the recoil of Soujiro's first strike.

'I can't breathe,' Yahiko surmised in panic. He gradually calmed down as
he gulped large amounts of air in deep breaths. 'I wasn't even able to
lay one strike on him!' he considered, frustrated. 'It looks like I'm 
outclassed.'

The spike-haired boy furthered his contemplations despite the nasty
cough he'd developed after accidentally choking on his spit while
wheezing. 'If it wasn't like Takae's technique, then there's only one
other explanation for his sudden disappearance at mid-charge. Speed. It
was his speed--his incredible, pure speed--that made it possible. Could
it be that he was even faster than...?'

Yahiko shook his head vehemently as if to clear it. 'No, that can't be
right. But still, this Soujiro guy--' the young man deliberated in his
head as he struggled to put his theories into order. 'Unless I'm finally
going out of my mind, the speed that Psycho-Kid used was even faster
than Kenshin's Divine Speed!'

He breathed with a bit of difficulty as he regarded his cheerful
opponent cautiously. 'No way. Nobody can beat Kenshin's speed. Those are
just stupid thoughts running in my head. But still, it's quite obvious
that his sword skill is better than mine. There is no comparison. He's
at the very least within Kenshin's skill level. Oh man. What have I
gotten myself into? I might have bitten off more than I could chew.' 

Yahiko gripped his abdomen. Soujiro had struck him just a little above
his midsection, which was the same place where Takae had nearly gutted
him just a few weeks ago. His midriff flared in remembrance of pain; a
memory of stinging warmth.

However, it was only a recollection and a memory.

'Wait a second!' Yahiko ruminated, trailing off as he checked his
abdomen. Sure enough, there wasn't a tear, slice, or cut on it; just a
bruise and a vague, passing feeling of having the wind knocked out of
him. He trembled in barely contained anger. "Psycho-Kid." 

"Oh, you're still standing?" Soujiro simply questioned, as if he'd just
noticed Yahiko's presence. "You're a very tenacious individual, Yahiko-
san."

"You're not _deliberately_ making fun of me, are you?" Yahiko asked in
an annoyed tone.

"What do you mean?" Soujiro obliviously queried in return.

"You flipped your blade when you struck me," Yahiko declared plainly, as
if merely stating a fact, but his eyes contrastingly glinted of
annoyance and enmity. "I resent that. I hate it when people hold back
and underestimate me!"

"Please don't misunderstand, Yahiko-san. I have no quarrel with you. The
earlier attack was just a warning. Please don't involve yourself or
Kyoko-san in this situation," Soujiro honestly beseeched, his eyes clear
and cloudless.

Yahiko exerted himself as he straightened his body out from its
slouching position using the embedded sakabatou as a supportive
counterweight. "Yeah? Well, you should have thought about that before
you killed all those--"

The sixteen year old blinked at Soujiro as his jovial opponent started
eyeing his reverse-edged sword strangely. "Um, what are you looking at?"

Soujiro actually walked closer towards Yahiko to give the sword a closer 
inspection. 'How curious; why is the reverse side of his sword
entrenched within a bamboo stalk? Could it be...?'

A mysterious grin escaped Soujiro's lips. 'Is that sword he's holding
the sakabatou? Himura-san's reverse-edged sword?' The emotionally bereft
youth rubbed his chin thoughtfully as his mind drifted to another plain
of reality.

'Surely it could be no other than the sakabatou. There's only one left,
especially since I destroyed the original,' Soujiro pondered to himself
as he blissfully reminisced.

The twenty-four year old studied the novice wanderer in the corner of his
eye, giggling as he felt the young lad tremble in irritation and fury.
'Well-trained, but he still acts a lot like a child. Hmmm. It's too bad
I can't relate to him because I never had the chance to experience any
sort of childhood since I was eight years old,' he thought.

'Who is this Myojin Yahiko? Why does he carry Himura-san's prized
sakabatou?' Soujiro briefly and absentmindedly pondered before his
familiar beatific smile reappeared on his face. 'Interesting. How very
interesting indeed.'

"Hey! Stop that! You're freaking me out!" Yahiko yelped. He afterwards
narrowed his eyes as he muttered, "Hey."

Grasping the hilt of the sakabatou tightly, Yahiko hastily dislodged his
sword from the bamboo stalk, swinging it deliberately towards Soujiro's
smiling face.

"Don't ignore your opponent while still in combat! This isn't--" was
what Yahiko raged before he trailed off once he realized that he had
just swung the sakabatou into thin air. "Where'd he go this time?" 

"I'm sorry to say, but your sword slash just now could have been
executed better, Yahiko-san," Soujiro pointed out matter-of-factly
seconds later as he stood a good six feet away from Yahiko. "It kind of
disappointed me, I'm afraid; _especially_ after comparing it to the
strength of your earlier attack on me."

"Shut up! Nobody asked you!" Yahiko spat. 'Dammit. He evaded my strike?
Even with his face so close to my sword?'

Yahiko idly wondered just _why_ the older boy was studying his sakabatou
so intently. 'Man. That really freaked me out. What's up with that?' The
teenager shuddered at the notion.

"How old are you?"

Yahiko paused for a minute before the question registered in his head.
"I just turned sixteen--Hey! You're doing one of those mind games of
yours again!"

Soujiro merely nodded in response before he returned to his musings.

"Soujiro-kun, why?" Yahiko heard Kyoko ask. As he glanced over the
girl's direction, it was clear that she was still in shock, cradling her
grandfather's sword like a newborn babe.

Yahiko exhaled as he focused his gaze on his enemy. It was clear at this
point that Soujiro was again deep in apparent contemplation, smiling
carelessly and ceaselessly. 'Jeez, does he have _any_ other expression
on his face other than 'happy' and 'happier'?' 

Yahiko could've attacked Soujiro again then and there because of the
older boy's current state. 'What a weirdo.' But after seeing the result
of his earlier assault, he decided to keep his guard up instead. 'He's
an incredible swordsman, but still a weirdo.'


***


Soujiro felt strange. There was no other word for it. 

Here he was, standing before a complete stranger that had affected him
somehow. Mentally. Emotionally. Well, certainly not physically, but he
digressed.

This was most probably caused by his curious emotive reaction to the
reverse-edged sword the young boy was carrying--the sakabatou. Kenshin
Himura's sakabatou.

It was the sword that had changed his life forever. Actually, Makoto
Shishio's wakizashi supposedly changed his life as well, but after the
battle with the Battousai, he had learned that no tangible little
thing could truly change a life. Mere objects didn't have as much impact
as major events and great people did. Life, on the other hand, was
always shifting, always dynamic, and composed of many little changes. It
could never be stagnant. 

He shouldn't blame a sword for his moment of hesitation and... weakness. 
'Such a loaded word.' It was probably the nostalgic feeling he had in
himself that was causing him to be like this. 

'My, my. I'm thinking weird thoughts again,' Soujiro supposed,
chuckling.

Memories started flooding Soujiro's mind like water from a broken dam.
It was a dam that was never repaired, just mostly ignored until the next
torrential downpour confirmed its existence. It was a dam broken years
ago by a battle with a man who would have protected him, had he only
been there during the-- 

'Another silly thought.'

The reminiscences continued to deluge his mind, the heavy torrent in his
psyche unforgiving and merciless. First, there were the memories he had
of an old colleague. He was a strange, bat-winged, and gaunt man; the
explosives expert of the Juppon Gatana: Soaring Henya of the Ten Swords.

Soujiro repetitively and deliberately made passing mentions and subtle
inquiries to Henya concerning his defeat in Aoiya whenever they had a
chance to meet and reminisce.

A resounding harrumph was the only response he ever got from his fellow
former Juppon Gatana member concerning that delicate topic.

'Although I've met with him a couple of times more, Henya-san was still
tight-lipped about the subject for some strange reason. However, he did
mention something about a flying door and a lucky shot.' Soujiro
chortled at the idea, but his mirth was soon replaced by seriousness
hidden behind an ecstatic grin.

'Hmmm. According to the intelligence reports that Houji-san related to
Shishio-san and me six years ago...'

"Four women, only two grown men, an old man, and a child will be present
in Aoiya as of tomorrow morning," Houji Sadojima of the Hundred Sense
informed Shishio and Soujiro smugly during the preliminary stages of
their planned ambush. "They're the only resistance the Juppon Gatana
will meet at that inn. How can we not win?"

'Houji-san had mentioned a child. Can Yahiko-san be that child?'

"The attack on Aoiya has failed. Iwanbo has fled, and Henya, Kamatari,
Fuji, and Saizuchi have been arrested," a more infuriated and disheveled
version of Houji detailed in Soujiro's wistful reverie. "They even had a
giant with them! How could we fail? Why were they defeated?"

Then there came Shishio's piercing words.

"They were stronger than us. That's the simple truth."

Afterwards, there were Soujiro's own words.

"After all, in this world, the flesh of the weak is the food for the
strong. The strong live, the weak die. But it's okay. I'm strong, so I
can do the work of all the Juppon Gatana combined, can't I?" 

'Strength. Another loaded word.'

He deliberately glazed over the events following that conversation. It
was an incident that he had already replayed in his mind over and over.
He felt no need to linger on that particular memory.

'It's time to turn my contemplations back to the situation at hand.'

Slowly, Soujiro focused his attention on the boy holding Battousai's
signature weapon. 'Could it be? Could it be that the little boy in Aoiya
and this young man before me are one and the same? If I'm guessing
correctly, then this person was able to defeat a member of the Juppon
Gatana--probably Henya--when he was only a mere child. Then there's the
fact concerning his current possession of Himura-san's sakabatou.'

Soujiro's heartbeat steadily quickened in anticipation. 'He just turned
sixteen, so six years ago, during the attack on Aoiya, he was merely a
ten-year-old boy. I was still a pathetic little stripling under Shishio-
san's protective wing when I was about that age.' His smile grew.

'This boy was just ten years old, and yet he was able to defeat one of
Shishio-san's premiere fighters at that very tender age.' The ever-
smiling young lad's excited heartbeat palpitated even faster. 'How
fascinating. I want to see what he's truly capable of, this Myojin
Yahiko.'


***


"Myojin Yahiko-san of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu," Soujiro unexpectedly and 
smilingly addressed as his eyes quickly focused on his surroundings and
on his immediate opponent.

"Humph. That's my name, don't wear it out," Yahiko rejoined gruffly,
tensing himself for battle. 'This guy's as unpredictable as they get.
What's he planning now?'

Soujiro looked at Yahiko jubilantly, a curious glint in the amused young
man's eyes. "To tell you the truth, I feel a bit excited about this duel
of ours," he confessed to the dumbstruck kendoist.

"'Duel', eh? For a while there, I thought you didn't want to fight,"
Yahiko retorted as he fell into his standard kendo stance. "But it seems
that your killer instincts have reemerged again. Well, after I'm done
with you, you still have a lot of explaining to do concerning what
happened to all those men."

'Why? Why is Soujiro-kun acting so strangely?' Kyoko thought as she
cautiously backed away from the two swordsmen who were now squaring off
upon a dusty pathway. 'The smile on his face right now--I've never seen
him smile like that. It's a scary smile. Who is this Myojin Yahiko? Why
does he affect Soujiro-kun so much?'

"Well then, I think a reintroduction is in order," Soujiro cheered as he
daintily clasped his hands in the same manner as before. 

After letting out a rather colorful curse, Yahiko screamed, "NO MORE
MIND GAMES! I know who I am and you know who you are. I'm Myojin Yahiko!
You're Psycho-Kid! End of story!"

To Yahiko's chagrin, the eternally pleased young lad laughed amicably
and freely at his angry proclamation and expense. Kyoko, on her part,
worriedly glanced at her friend's current state, undeniable anxiety
glinting in her eyes.

"What's so _funny_?" Yahiko challenged, taking up a stance and demeanor
reminiscent of one of his former yakuza employer's henchmen in an
obvious attempt to intimidate his adversary. "You're not making fun of
me, are you?"

"Not at all, Yahiko-san," Soujiro cooed. "I'm just happy that I'm about
to get the chance to fight Himura-san's prodigy."

Flabbergasted, Yahiko murmured, "How did you...?" Of course, Soujiro
wasn't aware that Kenshin was now known as "Kamiya Kenshin", but that
was neither here nor there.

Soujiro dramatically pointed his sword at Yahiko, proclaiming, "This is
the fight between two prodigies: the prodigy of Himura Kenshin and the
prodigy of Shishio Makoto. I am Seta Soujiro, the former Ten Ken of the
Juppon Gatana." His eyes shone maniacally. "Prepare yourself, Myojin
Yahiko of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu!" 

'The Heaven Sword of the Ten Swords? Shishio Makoto? What the hell is
going on?' Yahiko mulled over in his head as he braced himself,
expecting the worst.

A stray bamboo leaf briefly floated into Yahiko's field of vision,
obscuring his sight for a fraction of a second. That momentary
distraction was all it took for Soujiro to start his imperceptible
assault. 

'He disappeared again using that quickness technique of his,' Yahiko
observed. He tried to relax his breathing as his eyes darted back and
forth the bamboo grove. 'He's not rushing towards me like before; that
probably means that he's serious this time, and not just planning some
sort of surprise attack.'

Yahiko loosened his stiff joints as he concentrated hard. 'Dammit, I
can't see or sense him at all! He's too quick. Even his kenki is gone.
I'm a sitting duck. I'm completely at his mercy.'

For some strange and inexplicable reason, Yahiko visualized a duck in a
pond full of dragonflies. 'Eh? Dragonflies?'

The buzz of a large dragonfly's flapping wings grew louder in Yahiko's
fantasy as it slowly but surely neared his ear. It was a buzz that
sounded very similar to the slight beatings he heard all around him. 

Yahiko looked at the ground. Sure enough, miniature gushes were forming
on its rocky surface, lined up together in two parallel rows. The sounds
increasingly grew as time passed, the zigzagging path of the dirty
geysers clearly heading towards his direction.

'These gushes are the only sign that he's still here--small geysers
erupting from his quick and rapid footwork!' Yahiko determinedly lifted
his sword as the sounds of Soujiro's footsteps neared, becoming somewhat
louder than before. 'Then I'll use those flitting footsteps to find
him!'

"Imitation Technique! Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu: Ryu Tsui Sen!" Yahiko
screamed out as he made a quick and small leap towards the furious
trail, his sword ready to strike down his rapidly approaching invisible
opponent.

Yahiko's mouth went agape as his sakabatou smashed itself on the ground,
pelting rock and debris as it missed its target . He felt a dread chill
on the base of his spine as he heard a familiar chortle from behind him.

"I'm afraid to say that your idea to follow the sound of my footsteps,"
Soujiro started to berate as Yahiko shuddered in a mixture of shock and
fear, "was a _bad_ one."

'The speed Psycho-Kid used just now was different from before;
frighteningly different.' Yahiko gulped, his back still turned away from
his opponent as time seemed to crawl for him. 'So he held back? Not just
his sword strike, but his speed as well?' 

Without any warning or ceremony, Yahiko felt a sharp, mindless pain
pierce through the very depths of his consciousness as Soujiro stabbed
his shoulder. He only had one thought in his mind as he yowled a horrid
screech that cut through the very heart of his soul.

'Oh my God! He's not holding back this time!'


***


Yahiko tried--he desperately tried--but he just couldn't measure up; not
at all. 'With all that pure speed and skill, he's not just within
Kenshin's level. He's Kenshin's match!' Tears burned through the
teenager's closed eyes. 'He's definitely out of my league; Shishio's
right hand man, Seta Soujiro.'

"NOOOO! Stop it! Soujiro-kun, please stop!" Kyoko squealed in the
background, but to Yahiko, those girlish cries sounded like they were
miles away from him as his body became numb with fear. 

'He's too strong.' Yahiko struggled for air; moreover, the sharp ache on
his shoulder had a curious lethargic effect on him. 'At this rate, only
Kenshin could stop him.' From the fading panic that penetrated through
his drowsiness, Yahiko was able to grimly reflect, 'But Kenshin's not
here,' despite his quickly vanishing awareness. 

Fear. He felt fear. He felt afraid and vulnerable at that one moment--
the moment he'd feared the most. It was a moment of weakness that he'd
be ashamed to admit to anyone, even to himself.

It was the moment where he was helpless and Kenshin wasn't there to save
him; his greatest fear.

'That speed...'

Kenshin wasn't there to fight against it.

'That power...'

Kenshin wasn't there to rescue him.

'I'm scared.'

Kenshin wasn't there.

'I'm so scared.'

Kenshin was gone.

So there he was--bleeding, dying, powerless, and defenseless. He wanted
so dreadfully to become strong; but now, all of that was for naught. 

'How humiliating.'

Because he, Yahiko Myojin, Son of a Tokyo Samurai, had just revealed to
himself how much of a coward he really was. 


***


'Hmmm. It seems that, for a moment there, I became a bit overexcited,'
Soujiro sheepishly admitted to himself as he flicked the blood off of
his sword. 'I didn't even notice that I had used the true Shukuchi until
it was too late. I should have instead utilized the Shukuchi with three
steps done beforehand like in my first attack. I practically overwhelmed
the poor boy.'

The former Ten Ken of the Juppon Gatana stared at the wretched-looking
Yahiko with pity in his eyes. He smilingly sighed. 'Using my true speed
against a weaker opponent; how irresponsible of me.'

He pouted just a little more as he saw the glistening tears in the Tokyo
Samurai Descendant's eyes. 'The willingness to fight has already left
his eyes. They've became the eyes of an innocent bystander amidst the
presence of a murderer.'

Soujiro then felt a nearly imperceptible flicker of unease as he heard
Yahiko sob and grovel on the ground.

Yahiko grasped his bleeding wound as he apprehensively inched away from
the older boy. The distressed teenager held his sakabatou in front of
him like it was some sort of reverse-edged shield as he inclined his
bloodied back against a wall of bamboo stalks. 

'How disappointing.'

The everlastingly polite Soujiro sheathed his sword, sighing in defeat
even though the opposite was actually true. 'My thoughts about this boy
and his skill are mistaken. I feel that I had expected too much from
him. It seems that I had overestimated this Myojin Yahiko.' He looked
around, nodding to himself. 'I guess it's finally time for me to go.'

"Soujiro-kun! Soujiro-kun! Please wait!" an insistent voice urgently
pleaded. The subject of the summons gave no heed to it until he heard
the demanding and uncharacteristic yell of, "Seta Soujiro!"

"Kyoko-san?" Soujiro asked uncertainly as he blinked in mild surprise.
He didn't expect his usually acquiescent acquaintance to be so vehement
and impolite.

"I'm sorry," Kyoko apologized, embarrassed by her supposed earlier
rudeness. "I was trying to call your attention, but you ignored me." She
slipped her grandfather's Fuyutsuki inside her cloth belt. "As I was
trying to say before, I'm afraid that I cannot let you leave."

Soujiro had a puzzled and pensive expression on his smiling face as he
looked at his female friend without a word of protest or complaint
escaping his lips.

Kyoko, though visibly agitated, persisted through subdued tones, "I am
here to fight you. Prepare yourself."

Upon hearing the ridiculous statement, Soujiro stared at Kyoko with
skepticism. 'How could she say that with such fear in her voice? It
seems that she's even more afraid to fight than Yahiko-san is. It's just
that she's more polite about it.' He'd laugh, but that was a very
impolite thing for a compatriot to do to an obviously sensitive
companion.

"For the sake of the lives you've taken and f-for the b-boy's sake as
well..." Kyoko trailed off, her voice choked with unbridled emotion. She
noticeably shook as she went into battoujutsu stance, her hand
trembling helplessly at the hilt of her grandfather's sword. 

'Please, stop shaking!' Kyoko mentally beseeched to her body before she
willed herself to continue. "F-For their sake, I have chosen to fight. I
am Sakaguchi Kyoko of the Musou Madden School. Please prepare yourself,
Soujiro-kun."

Soujiro couldn't help himself this time as he daintily chortled. He
afterwards made an apologetic chopping motion with his right hand.
"Excuse me. I didn't mean to laugh, but it's quite obvious that you
don't want to fight. You're panicked and afraid; you yourself know this.
Please stop forcing yourself to be brave. You don't have to get
involved. Go home to Sakaguchi-san and let things be."

"I will not stand down!" Kyoko roared, surprising even herself with the
forcefulness and intensity of her words. 

"Oh?" Soujiro asked patronizingly, adding, "And why is that, Kyoko-san?"

"Because," the double pony-tailed girl seemed at a loss for words before
she determinedly avowed, "this h-has nothing to do with my willingness
to fight." She resolutely grasped Fuyutsuki's handle tightly, even
though her hand still continued to tremble. "I... I only do what I have
to do. I-I'll be the first one to admit that I am... w-weak-hearted, but
I would like to think that I can be strong when the situation deems it 
necessary."

Unnoticed by either of the two affable companions lost in an awkward
moment of confrontation, a boy's eyes sparkled briefly in blurry
awareness as he heard the girl's impassioned declaration. From there, he
silently mouthed the powerful words that had cut through the haze of his
mind.

"Be... strong?"

Bamboo leaves started raining upon the two new soon-to-be combatants as
Kyoko Sakaguchi desperately pushed her waning self-confidence to the
limit, lest it quickly left her completely.

"A great man once told me that, even though I didn't want to, I would
eventually fight for what I believed in. But as much as possible, if I
really had to fight, I should not fight just because of some principle."

Kyoko smiled sadly at Soujiro, which made the young man stand back in
surprise. "He told me to fight for a dream. A goal. A wish." 

'Kinta-san was a very wise and nice person; just like you, Soujiro-kun,'
Kyoko reminisced as she breathed deeply, bracing herself again as she
resumed her passionate speech.

"I'm going to fight you to fulfill that wish, Soujiro-kun." Seeing no
response on Soujiro's part, Kyoko resumed, "Mother always did tease us
with her 'boy that always smiles' and 'girl that never smiles' quips.
Didn't we promise to each other that if I'd continue to search for the
person that would make me smile, you, in turn, would continue to search
for the person that you could openly cry with? I have never forgotten
that promise."

Soujiro nodded absently to what Kyoko was saying, lost in his own
ruminations.

"It's a promise to humanize yourself--_ourselves_, Soujiro-kun," Kyoko
clarified, her eyes shimmering. "It's that promise that has compelled me
to fight. I'm fighting for my wish; my wish for humanity. Your
humanity."

Soujiro snickered at that. He remembered Kyoko's sad smile, not
realizing that the same sad smile was now etched upon his face. 

"Soujiro-kun, please. Say something. Tell me why you did it," Kyoko
implored sullenly. "Why did you murder all those people?"

At last, Soujiro spoke. "I am afraid I am not clean enough to deserve
such redemption."

Kyoko shut her eyes as she bit her quivering lip. "Okay. Then I have to
do this." Ignoring the pain of her heart that mingled with her growing
anxiety, she rapidly charged.

'Grandfather. Father. Kinta-san. Please, give me strength,' she
entreated as she pledged, "I will defeat you, Soujiro-kun!" 

"Kyoko! Psycho-Kid! STOP!"

Kyoko and Soujiro glanced at the source of the ardent objection as they
both paused in the middle of their mutual charge.

"Yahiko-san?" Soujiro inquired in a half-surprised, half-puzzled tone.

The boy in question gingerly got up from his crouching position near the
now-bloodied bamboo stalks, grasping his shoulder in an effort to lessen
the bleeding. "I feel so ashamed."

Yahiko looked up, his eyes containing neither fear nor anger.
Humiliation and humility were its only contents. "I was petrified by you
just because you were Shishio's right hand man and an even match against
Kenshin. But here was Kyoko, ready to fight you even though she probably
dreaded the prospect of doing so more than I did." He quickly grasped
the sakabatou with both hands. "She's much braver than me."

"Please, Yahiko-san!" Kyoko addressed, remembering the spike-haired
boy's name at the last minute. "You're hurt, and this is hardly your
fight anymore!" she half-pleaded, half-reproached.

Yahiko grinned widely at the young girl. "I'm sorry. I was such a moron.
I originally came here at your mother's request to save you, but once I
saw all those dead people and Psycho-Kid over there, I became self-
righteous and arrogant. I wanted so desperately to prove to myself that
I could beat Psycho-Kid with my current abilities that I lost sight of
what I was supposed to do."

Kyoko at last put two and two together, remembering where she had seen
the conceited boy before. 'He was the one who challenged Keisuke and his
gang this morning!' To Yahiko, she reproved, "Thank you, but I don't
feel the need to be rescued."

Yahiko's grinning face turned serious. "I know." Getting Kyoko's full
attention, he persisted, stating, "I understand your position. I know
that you wanted to get that bastard Keisuke yourself. You didn't like
the fact that he made you feel so helpless and violated; that's why
you're here right now. You tried to be brave, even though you felt you
couldn't. You wanted to be strong so that nobody could make you feel
helpless anymore."

Yahiko sighed. 'Boy, did that sound familiar.'

"Like I said before, I won't be fighting Psycho-Kid for the sake of my
own self-righteousness." The Kamiya Kasshin Ryu practitioner briefly
glanced at the blissful-looking swordsman, wincing a bit in annoyance.
"It looks like the two of you are the best of friends. And, even though
I don't like Psycho-Kid all that much, I hate it when friends fight each
other. I myself would hate it if I were put in a position where I had to
fight a close friend of mine. So I have to do this."

"Y-Yahiko-san," Kyoko stuttered in awe. 'He's so spirited. He's a lot
like Chizuru-san and Yuki-san.'

"Hey! Psycho-Kid! Did you hear that? I'm still going to fight!" Yahiko
called out boisterously. "Let's finish this."

Soujiro laughed gaily and openly. "Very well. Though, I must warn you, I
doubt you'll survive another charge with that wound of yours, Yahiko-
san." With his proverbial mask of happiness still intact, Soujiro
promptly unsheathed his sword. "I'm sorry to say, but that's the truth."

"Is that so?" Yahiko snorted. "How arrogant of you."

Soujiro shook his head earnestly. "This isn't arrogance. This is one of
the most important things I've learned in my life as a swordsman. Having
pure motives and good intentions doesn't assure you of a victory in the
end. Even though it sounds sad and tragic, it's still strength and skill
and not purpose and resolve that determines who will win and who will
lose. Even though you're determined to win, you will still lose."

"Really now?" Yahiko growled as he struggled within himself to find his
inner calm. 'I saw how Kyoko smiled at you, Soujiro. She has already
found the person she could smile with. And because of my moment of
weakness, I nearly forced a girl to fight the one person she'd hate to
fight the most. Because of that, I cannot afford defeat.'

Kyoko reflexively flinched as she saw a couple of leaves snap right in
front of her. "Snapping leaves?" she ponderously whispered. 'Is
this...?'

"Call me stubborn, but even though you say that, Psycho-Kid..." 

'Is this the phenomenon grandpa told me about? The phenomenon
called...?' 

'With my sword, I'll make it my destiny to protect. I will not allow
failure.'

"I'LL NEVER GIVE UP!" Upon shouting out his declaration, a thin bamboo
stalk from behind Yahiko was all of a sudden split in half, startling
the only two people who witnessed it.

'Kenki,' Soujiro thought delightedly.


***


The furious exchange of sword strikes between the two prodigies was
brief.

Seconds seemed to pass forever as they stood there with their backs 
turned, the intensity of their respective attacks creating a powerful 
updraft of ferocious wind that scattered the bamboo leaves across the 
landscape.

Myojin Yahiko was the first one to fall as a dark, moist stain grew on
his blue shirt.

A delighted voice inside the young Tokyo Samurai's psyche began mocking
him.

"Having pure motives and good intentions doesn't assure you of a victory
in the end."

'No. Oh God, no.'

"Even though it sounds sad and tragic, it's still strength and skill and
not purpose and resolve that determines who will win and who will lose."

'I missed? I still missed?'

"Even though you're determined to win, you will still lose, Yahiko-san."

'I still... failed?'

Yahiko ground his teeth in frustration and desperation. 'No matter what
I do, no matter how hard I try, and no matter how determined I am, I
still can't beat him. Why?'


***


'No good!' Kyoko summed up as she looked at the crouched and bloodied
form of Yahiko. 'He's still not strong enough. Even though his fighting
spirit is incredible, it's still not enough.'

'Disappointed again,' Soujiro cogitated as he looked at his bloodied
blade with a touch of dissatisfaction on his merry features. 'I was kind
of expecting him to rise to the challenge, but it was apparently too
much for me to ask. What a pity.'


***


A stray memory entered Yahiko's mind. It contained a vision of himself
and Kenshin six years ago, when Chou had just visited them to talk about
what happened after the death of Makoto Shishio and the dissolution of
the Juppon Gatana.

"Hey, Kenshin. We won. Aren't we the ones who are right?" It was a query
that came from the ten-year-old Yahiko's mouth.

"If you think might makes right, you're the same as Shishio Makoto.
Which side was right is up for future generations to decide. What we can
do now is believe in what we know ourselves to be true and fight for
it." That was Kenshin's own idealistic answer.

A new query--a more contemporary statement--was asked by the sixteen-
year-old Yahiko.

"But what if you were sure to lose? No matter what you do, no matter how
hard you try, no matter how determined you are, you still can't win?
What will you do then?"

"Well, well, Yahiko," Kenshin drawled in the kendoist's perceptive mind.
"You already know the answer to that."


***


Soujiro looked at his katana, feeling as though something was amiss.
'How curious.' He cautiously cleaned the blade with a handkerchief,
inspecting it carefully. 'Well, no nicks or scratches on the edge
itself. I'm fairly sure that the sakabatou wasn't even able to touch the
blade as I slashed Yahiko-san. I must be imagining things.'

His eyes then widened in mild surprise.


***


Tsubame blushed hard as she took the red string back and kneeled down.

"Huh?" Yahiko blurted. "Tsubame, what are you...?"

The youth went silent as the teenaged girl started tying the string
tightly on his sandals. 'This is just like the first time we met.'

Tsubame smiled as she got up. "It's so you'll never forget, Yahiko-kun.
I hope you'll find what you're looking for, so do have a safe trip!" she
urged optimistically.

Yahiko grinned in kind, turning quickly lest he risk letting Tsubame see
his reddened face. He directed a sidelong glance towards her. "Tsubame."

"Y-Yes?" Tsubame choked as her heart got caught in her throat. It was a
familiar anxiety, but an ultimately welcome nervousness.

"The address I got from the post office was the Akabeko's instead of the
Kamiya Dojo's. I'm entrusting you the task of getting the letters
delivered to Kenshin, Kaoru, and Kenji. Good-bye."

"But why would you do that if it would be easier to mail--" her words
were cut off as Yahiko looked at her with clear brown eyes that spoke 
volumes.

Tsubame nodded timidly to Yahiko, putting up a brave and hopeful face.
"Thank you." There was no need for more words as the girl gazed at the 
retreating figure of her beloved. The scene was simplicity itself.

It was a memory of an unsaid promise of mutual understanding.

'When I finally return to Tokyo, I will return as a man, Tsubame! Wait
for me!'


***


Right before his eyes, Soujiro's hand guard started to crackle and pop
before it abruptly shattered.

"The hand guard!" Kyoko accidentally exclaimed in shock. 'Did... Did
Yahiko-san's sword strike do that?'


***


"Didn't we promise to each other that if I'd continue to search for the
person that would make me smile, you, in turn, would continue to search
for the person that you could openly cry with? I have never forgotten
that promise." This was Kyoko's pleading pledge to Soujiro.

'When I finally return to Tokyo, I will return as a man, Tsubame! Wait
for me!' This was Yahiko's unsaid promise to Tsubame.

'A samurai's word is his bond. Though I didn't even state my promise to
Tsubame, I will still stake my life on it,' Yahiko avowed as he
struggled to get up. The stinging warmth he felt on his abdomen was very
real this time, instead of just a passing remembrance of pain. However,
he barely took heed of it. 'I know how important your wish is to you,
Kyoko. I know that you'll do anything for that wish.'

Yahiko steeled his nerves. 'I know. Because I also have the same sort of
wish.'

"He told me to fight for a dream. A goal. A wish." 

'I also want to fight for a dream, a goal, and a wish, Kyoko.'

"Even though it sounds sad and tragic, it's still strength and skill and
not purpose and resolve that determines who will win and who will lose."

'Even though I hate to admit it, Psycho-Kid's probably right.'

"But what if you were sure to lose? No matter what you do, no matter how
hard you try, no matter how determined you are, you still can't win?
What will you do then?"

'What will I do now?'

"You already know the answer to that."

'Yes, I do. Even if I were sure to lose, I will still fight for a wish
and a promise.'

A memory of Tsubame blushingly tying a red string on Yahiko's sandals
filled the young man's psyche.

'Because even when faced with insurmountable odds, some wishes are just
worth fighting for!' 


***


'So,' Soujiro amusedly pondered, 'he was able to anticipate my attack.'

The former Ten Ken sniggered. 'I was so concentrated on slashing his gut
as fast as possible that I didn't notice that he had hit the hand guard
of my sword instead.' He trailed his finger on the currently exposed
metal band that separated blade from hilt. 'Meaning the sakabatou strike
was able to absorb the power of my sword strike; which, in turn, means
that--'

"Psycho-kid!" Yahiko yelled. "That last attack was pathetic! I was cut
deeper by an old, decrepit ninja!"

'This is beginning to become a fight to enjoy,' Soujiro Seta concluded
as he prepared his offensive stance once more. "Really? That's nice. I'd
like to comment on your performance as well, but unfortunately, your
sword has yet to touch me."

Yahiko nearly growled at his adversary's mostly correct remark. 'It's
one thing for him to insult my sword skills since he's a better
swordsman and all--but to do it with that smiley face of his? If he
thinks he's so hot, then he should challenge me to a fist fight to see 
who's the better man!'

'Yahiko-san. Soujiro-kun. They're both really good fighters. I sort of
envy them, knowing my vast inexperience in swordsmanship,' Kyoko weighed
up in silent awe as she openly gawked at the two prodigies. 

'Psyche me out, will you? Well, two can play this game!' the spike-
haired young lad fumed as he visibly tried to calm himself down.
"Humph. I don't know about that. I _was_ able to anticipate your last
strike."

"Yes, I must confess that it was an incredible, one-time fluke. I
applaud your efforts," Soujiro jovially confessed. 

Yahiko tried his best not to fall face-first on the ground in utter
shame. That done, he angrily retorted, "Oh yeah? Well, your last attack
sucked!" 'Why did it suck? It nearly made my guts spill out of my
stomach.' "Because it was... slower than your second attack and... a
little faster than your first attack!" 'I think.' 

The Tokyoite paused musingly as he noticed something off beam. 'Hey,
what happened to Psycho-Kid's hand guard?' His jaw slackened in
disbelief. 'Did I break it? Could I have actually come close to hitting
him?'

Soujiro regarded the Tokyo Samurai with uncharacteristic wariness,
though it came out looking more like a blissful, closed-eye expression
because of his joyful smile. 'He is correct. I used two steps before the
Shukuchi in my last assault. Can Yahiko-san actually tell how fast my
Shukuchi is?'

The former Ten Ken took an unhesitating step forward, rousing himself
from his own musings. 'Fine. I'll believe it once I see it,' he decided.
To Yahiko, he forewarned, "If so, then prepare yourself. Here I go."

Soujiro's image completely disappeared within the span of a fraction of
a second.

Yahiko's heart palpitated faster. He closed his eyes as the furious yet
subtle beats of Soujiro's footsteps came nearer and nearer. 'Looks like
he called my bluff! He's charging again like nothing happened! Okay,
Yahiko; _pray_ that it wasn't a fluke.'


***


Kaoru's visage rapidly entered Yahiko's mind's eye. Or was it Chizuru's?
The Descendant of Tokyo Samurai wasn't completely sure.  
He was subsequently whacked on the head with a shinai. "You got it all
wrong again! Pay attention to what you're doing!"

Yup, it was definitely Kaoru's visage, all right. 

"What now, old hag?" the ten-year-old version of Yahiko's self growled
irritably. "I got the whole exercise right, didn't I? I did the dumb
move perfectly!"

"Technically, yes. You did do the 'dumb' move correctly," Kaoru agreed
in a tone that wasn't very agreeable at all. "But I wasn't talking about
the move. You got the execution all wrong! A true Kamiya Kasshin Ryu 
practitioner should have--"

Yahiko yawned as he blocked the rest of Kaoru's rant from his mind.
'Blah, blah, blah. Why the hell is she so fussy? What got her ponytail
in a knot? Like she said, I practically mastered the Hiza-something-or-
whatever already! Does she really need to harp on me all the time?' he
wondered to himself irritably as he idly cleaned his ear with his pinky.

Yahiko immediately felt a sharp pain on that very same ear as Kaoru
callously pinched and twisted it. Hard. "Listen when somebody is talking
to you!" 

The disobedient young boy rolled his eyes as he slapped Kaoru's hand
away. "Oh, forgive me. I must have missed something really important
from that worn-out rant of yours! Something that hasn't been said to me 
a _thousand_ times, I'll bet! Oh, woe is me." 

Yahiko started to mockingly mimic Kaoru's gestures as he reiterated his
teacher's rant. "'Yahiko, you're practicing Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, not
Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu! Kamiya Kasshin Ryu is a defensive technique,
dammit! Stop charging like a bull and _anticipate_ your opponent for
once!' Yeah right, like that would do me any good; 'confronting' my
enemy by just _standing_ there, eh? What's so manly about that? I ain't
gonna do no cowardly move like that!" 

Kaoru looked at Yahiko with half-lidded eyes as she smacked him on the
head with a slipper. "Are you done talking? Yes? Good." She breathed in
deeply to regain her composure. After accomplishing this, she let all
hell break loose.

"You are such a conceited, foul-mouthed butthead! Grow up first before
you even try mastering that move! Stop being so full of yourself!" 

Yahiko shrugged as he made his way out of the dojo. "I'll be in the
longhouse if you need me."

Kaoru seethed as she shouted out to Yahiko, "If you don't know how to
_really_ execute a Kamiya Kasshin Ryu technique, then you'll never
master the school, you moron!"  
As the imaginary Yahiko closed his eyes, the real Yahiko then opened
his, finally awakening from his reverie. He breathed in deeply as he
started preparing the first few steps prior to the execution of the
Tsuka no Gedan: Hiza Hijiki. 'I knew I could always count on you when 
the chips are down, old hag.'

Yahiko fell into ready stance, his head buzzing with all sorts of ideas
as he awaited his unseen enemy's next move. 'It's now or never, Psycho-
Kid. Come at me with everything you've got. I'm ready.'


***


Next: Refrain.

If you think the "Soujiro Seta as the main rival" motif is
overkill considering Yahiko's current skill level, let me put it
this way: Sesshoumaru is certainly well beyond Inuyasha's skill
level, so let's just consider Soujiro as Yahiko's Sesshoumaru. No
cut scenes with the Tokyo folks this time around, though.

Disclaimer: All characters used in this fanfic (save some others)
are the rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki and Sony. Don't sue
me please, I'm very poor.

Ja ne!
Abdiel