[FFML] [fic][rk][cont] Rurouni Yahiko Chapter 29: The Aftermath of War

[Abdiel]

"One kills a man, one is an assassin; one kills millions, one is a
conqueror; one kills everybody, one is a god."

(Jean Rostand)


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Rurouni Yahiko
A Rurouni Kenshin Continuation Fan Fiction
By Chester Castañeda
chester.castaneda at gmail.com
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/223441/

We have a couple of loose ends to attend to before the next few arcs can
begin.


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Chapter 29: The Aftermath of War

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Back on November 7, 1884; within the Akahori Manor's ballroom about two
hours or so after midnight...

Munenori Minoe felt regret for the deaths of Gan and the Togakudan, but
not for the massacre of the Fake Battousai Group. The details were hazy,
but apparently he heard through the Togakudan "grapevine" that the gang
members were castrated before they were killed.

'Kaede-chi went too far, as usual.'

"I've forced you to kill for me. I'm grateful. I'm sorry." Unbidden,
Shogo Amakusa drew the diminutive man-child in an embrace that engulfed
the both of them in bare skin, cloth, sweat, and blood. "If I could, I
would've made it so that I'm the only one to shoulder the sins of this
world. But..."

"A-Amakusa-sama...!" It was Minoe's turn to redden as he pushed the
Hidden Christian's savior away. "We mustn't! We're both male! It is
forbidden! What would Kaede-chi say?"

"W-What are you talking about?" the confused Shogo asked in all honesty.

Minoe giggled and returned to Amakusa's arms. "I'm kidding. Let me
shoulder your burden too. Didn't you teach us that mercy resides in God,
and deeds reside in men? Intertwined in your arms are the dreams of
thousands of Christians and millions of disgruntled Japanese who are
sick and tired of the government's corrupt ways."

The clunking sound reached a fever pitch, along with some throat-grating
grunts. The pair released their hold on each other in time to witness
the sight of a panting man who wore the same uniform as Minoe climbing
up the stairs and pushing a cartwheel with a rotating-barreled firearm
loaded on top of it.

"Get away from him! Don't you dare touch Minoe, you filthy, foreigner-
loving Kirishitan scum!" the man screamed, which jolted Minoe into
remembering that he hadn't finished off the _entire_ Togakudan forces
just yet.

Before Munenori knew it, Shogo Amakusa had already pushed him back to
the untouched part of the wooden railings while the rebel leader dodged
the whizzing bullets and unleashed a Dou Ryu Sen at the new arrival.

"YOU KILLED MY MEN! Nearly every one of them! You terrorist scum! I
don't care if you can dodge bullets, if I can land even one shot in your
heart or your head, you're done for!" the maniac screamed before he
kept his entire Gatling gun setup from getting blasted by the Earth
Dragon Flash while firing at Amakusa with a spare Murata rifle.

"R-Raedo... sempai?" Minoe's mouth went slack as his bulging, uncovered
eye followed the movement of what could be considered his "former"
superior. How'd the spy lug that wheeled mechanical abomination into the
upper level of the ballroom anyway?

'Raedo-sempai was supposed to stay outside to find a way to get those
coppers out of the rubble! What's he doing here?'

Aloud, Minoe asked Suzuki "Raedo" Nagaoka more or less the same
question, his exposed eye darting back and forth his two masters as his
mind raced in regards to what he was supposed to do at that point.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm saving your ass, you ingrate! You
and I are probably the only living Togakudan spies left in this
goddamned mansion! It looks like neither that spiky-haired boy nor that
meathead could make it either!"

Raedo stated his case without bothering to look behind him, his rifle
ablaze as he pushed the bigger rapid-fire Gatling Gun into position and
interspersed himself in between Shimabara's Savior and what he viewed as
his ditzy lackey.

"I apologize for your many losses, but you cannot stop me. You're still
free to escape from this place, if you want. Take advantage of this
token of mercy while you still have the chance," the reinvigorated
Amakusa warned Raedo while dodging every rifle shot that came his way.

"Seriously? You're in no position to say such things, you arrogant son
of a bitch," Raedo hissed before kneeling down and cranking up the
Gatling Gun with a faster and deadlier rain of bullets.

"Your purpose and actions are of human origin. Mine is divine. You'll
fail because you'll soon find yourself fighting against the Will of God
himself."

"Is the life of one man worth the lives of all the people you've killed?
Can you answer me that, you fucking hypocrite?"

"You misunderstand. The life of Akahori Tetsuo is worth the lives of
thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of Christians in hiding. As
long as he's alive, their lives are at risk," the beatific Amakusa
clarified as he dodged and danced around the whizzing projectiles the
same way he did when he first began his assassinations of former Kyoto
bakufu officials in 1878.

Minoe squeezed his eyes shut as a myriad of memories flashed before his
mind's eye:

The Togakudan's initiation rites where he had go between the legs of the
squatted members as they farted to their heart's content...

The low pay and scarce stipends...

The fact that he was the new guy and they hated him...

Their horrid body odor that never improved the whole time he bunked with
them...

The increasing amount of backtalk and verbal abuse he endured because he
was supposedly "showing off" with his vast amount of knowledge regarding
Amakusa and the Battousai Group...

The beatings he had to cope with that Raedo waved off as normal manly
roughhousing...

Raedo slapping the taste out of his mouth every time he "slipped" too
much into his "character" and called him "Raedo-chi" (he finally settled
for "Raedo-sempai")...

The childish "kancho" stabs wherein they clasped their hands and stuck
both index fingers into his butt when he wasn't looking...

Being turned into an errand boy who fetched their food and supplies...

Getting beat up by them just because they felt like it...

Getting his life "saved" by Raedo twice in a row that early morning
because the supposed "master spy" couldn't tell when one of his
underlings was a double agent or not...

Dammit, why did that lowlife have to choose _now_ out of all times to
act like he had honor?

Shogo reacted in kind to the increased number of wall-busting slugs by
speeding up his acrobatic, tumbling movements to the point of scaling
walls and running on the ceiling. Unbeknownst to the Togakudan leader,
Amakusa kept an eye on his... _their_... dithering associate.

"Fuck off. To be honest, most of those underlings of mine piss me off
more often than not. They're not worth all this aggravation."

Raedo reloaded his Murata Rifle in between repositioning his unwieldy
Gatling Gun and cycled between firing either firearm depending on where
Amakusa was at the time.

"On the other hand, your halfhearted morality is making me sick to my
stomach. You want a piece of me? Come and get it!"

The Togakudan Chief felt something move in the corner of his eye. He
turned and took aim, only to see a clammy-skinned, sweaty Minoe
unsheathe his short sword. "I know how you feel, kid, but it's best that
you run away and let me handle this. The Ten Ken is already in the
building anyway, and..."

A fraction of a second before Minoe's tensed arm and leg muscles
would've uncoiled and pushed the wakizashi straight into Raedo's heart,
Amakusa delivered a Ryu Tsui Sen that cleaved straight into the spy
leader's right shoulder and lung.

The rifle fell to the shattered ground with a clatter while Akahori's
dying secret agent ended up scuttling to railings behind Minoe, his
vision watery and his legs rubbery.

Amakusa prepared to dispense the final, fatal blow when Minoe blocked
his Sword of Light and Darkness yet again. "Don't be naive. We can't
save them all, even if they have little to do with Akahori's sins.
They've made their choice."

"...I know. I know. Don't worry. I won't be your weak link or your Judas
Iscariot, Amakusa-chi," Minoe said as he faced the man whom he truly
betrayed.

"M-Minoe? Who is Judas Iscariot? Why are you acting all familiar with
Amakusa?" Raedo wheezed, his lightheadedness keeping him from reaching a
conclusion that was right in front of him.

'You're the one I'm betraying, you fool,' Minoe wanted to outright tell
Raedo while he used the Togakudan's collective abusiveness to remind him
of his mission and to validate his next course of action.

"I hated the Togakudan. I hated you as much as Kaede-chi hated that gang
who stole the name of the Battousai Group for themselves to terrorize
innocent villagers. From the very start, you bullied and humiliated me,
which I'm happy for because I wouldn't feel the least bit guilty once I
betrayed you."

'...So why is it so hard for me to kill you now?' was what Munenori
couldn't bring himself to say. 'You decided to act heroic at the last
minute. That doesn't count! It shouldn't. You're a horrible man, Raedo-
sempai.'

"W-What are you talking about?" Despite the blood loss, Minoe's words
permeated into Raedo's fading consciousness as though they were liquid
spreading through the interstices of the latter's awareness or even his
sapience.

Eventually, Nagaoka put two and two together. "Wait. You pulled that
short sword on _me_, not Amakusa. You tried to stab _me_. Holy shit, I
thought you were trying to help me avenge our fallen brothers!"

The lurching and wobbly Suzuki grabbed hold of the shorter, youngish
man's hairpiece and the rope that tied his eye patch together.

Amakusa stepped forward to chop the spy's hand off, but Minoe remained
where he stood, in his own way shielding the Togakudan boss from Shogo's
wrath and over-protectiveness.

"You're one of them, aren't you? You bastard! You're the one who leaked
the information regarding the Kanto Police Captains! You even helped
that Christian radical kill all the Togakudan...!"

"Morinaga Kaede-chi is the one who killed all the Togakudan members,
Raedo-sempai," Minoe corrected.

"W-What?" Raedo sputtered.

Minoe wanted to ask why Raedo shielded him from Shogo using the Gatling
Gun not once, but twice; why he tried to take vengeance for self-serving
underlings that irritated him more often than not; he wanted to ask, but
he was afraid of knowing the answer. Or maybe Raedo didn't even have an
answer left to give.

"I'm sorry it had to end this way. Despite everything, I bear you or
your men no ill will."

Something changed inside Minoe. Minoe was no longer there.

"All of Shogo-sama's enemies must perish. Scorpion Nest."

The wigged assassin let the reverse-edged wakizashi fly with the blade
flipped so that its edge could slice its victim up like a sickle would.

In the same manner Minoe blocked each and every one of Amakusa's Ryu Sou
Sen strikes that were aimed at Yahiko back in the body-strewn yard of
Akahori's mansion, the split-second technique cleaved through every bone
and limb of the man who both mistreated Munenori and "saved" his life
from someone he didn't need saving from in the first place.

The last thing Suzuki Nagaoka saw before his halved head fell right
beside his murderer's feet was him ripping off "Minoe's" toupee and eye
patch, revealing a red-haired young woman with a small, cross-shaped
scar underneath her left eye: The other Battousai that the Togakudan had
been looking for all this time was right under their noses all along.

A voluminous wail echoed within the ballroom, and Morinaga was surprised
to learn that it wasn't her that was screaming her head off. Right below
her, it rained blood atop the now-conscious Yahiko Myojin and his wide-
awake eyes. The blood mixed with his sweat and tears.

After what seemed like an eternity of silence, the double agent breathed
out, "It's over." It was only then that she noticed that her flimsy
disguise had fallen off, revealing her orange-red locks and intersecting
scars that nearly reached her left eye.

"I knew I could count on you, Minoe," praised Amakusa as he put his hand
over his blood-drenched but otherwise completely unharmed apprentice.

"No, it's actually Morinaga. Morinaga Kaede, Shogo-sama," Kaede
clarified.


===


Two weeks later at Shinshushin, Nagano; on November 21, 1884...

Munenori Minoe was among the ones listed as missing-in-action, presumed
dead spies of the Togakudan. Many of the mutilated bodies of cops and
spies alike were returned home and handed to their loved ones in
Kamiminochi, Kanagawa, Gunma, Tokyo, and wherever else for cremation or
outright burial.

Two weeks ago, Yahiko Myojin and Gan paid their respects to the fallen
officers and spies alongside the surviving policemen and Togakudan in a
short ceremony commemorating their bravery before their remains were
carted out to their respective relatives and hometowns. Tetsuo Akahori,
his bodyguard Soujiro Seta, and his daughter Rin Akahori were also in
attendance.

These thirty or so brave men who died were heralded as heroes who fought
against the rebel Shogo Amakusa and his fanatic "army" of terrorists.
The Meiji Government covered up every indication that their trap to lure
out the cult leader (using Tetsuo Akahori as bait and some vengeful
police officers whose loved ones died back in the Modern Shimabara War
as the cage or net of sorts) was anything but a huge success.

Nonetheless, this much was true: Shogo Amakusa and his Battousai-looking
associate remained at large.

The teenaged kendoist crumpled and threw away the newspaper he bought in
disgust after reading it through. In fairness to Akahori (who was a
bastard nonetheless, make no mistake), he himself was as much of a
victim of the Meiji Government propaganda machine as Amakusa was. They'd
rewritten history yet again in their favor.

The boy was sure those old coots and oligarchs would've loved to pin all
the blame on the curtain-bearded politician, except any blame on him
would've made everyone look incompetent for approving that plot
regardless, so they instead painted the picture of a near victory as
policemen repelled the charge of Amakusa and his fictitious army to save
face and justify all the lives that were lost.

'Absolutely disgusting.'

On the other hand, at least Amakusa's existence was acknowledged, unlike
with what happened to Makoto Shishio, his faction, and his Ten Swords.
The incident wasn't even part of the headlines. The media had a lot more
vested interest in covering the latest developments of the Chichibu
Incident, which instead showed off the might of the administration in
dealing with a peasant revolt that used pitchforks and farming
implements instead of guns and swords.

Furthermore, even though the casualties of the little-known Second
Shimabara War was significant in its own right, such that the Meiji
Government basically won a double-edged Pyrrhic Victory over a couple of
thousand Hidden Christian rebels by losing roughly an equal amount of
soldiers and policemen (most of them rumored to have fallen from Shogo
Amakusa's sword alone), the scale of that insurgency when compared to
the Chichibu Incident made the former seem nothing more than a minor
scuffle.

In contrast to Shiro Amakusa the Second's Revolt, the relatively recent
Chichibu Riots had the size of five thousand to ten thousand men
(accounts varied widely in regards to its true scope). No wonder
newspapers nationwide treated the Modern Shimabara Rebellion as nothing
more than a footnote in history... especially considering the many
casualty-ridden wars the Meiji Government faced.

For instance, there were the four thousand people killed in 1868's
Boshin War (also known as the War of the Year of the Dragon) and the
whopping twenty-six thousand killed (and nearly ten thousand wounded)
in 1877's Satsuma Rebellion (also known as the Seinan War or the
Southwestern War).

Yahiko had a feeling there was some revisionist history happening in
regards to the Chichibu Incident as well, as evidenced by the headlines'
insistence that the rioters' motivations were solely economic in nature,
implying that they nothing more than an organized mob of looters and
robbers spreading anarchy and civil unrest for no good reason.

Although the motives of last month's Chichibu Riots were partly
economical in nature (taxation became cash only, and many families were
forced to sell their land or their wives and daughters to prostitution
because they couldn't keep up with the Land Tax Reform of 1873), it was
also caused by liberal revolutionary ideas.

More to the point, the Chichibu Incident was mainly promulgated by the
so-called "Revolutionary Army" and erupted on the Saitama Prefecture's
Chichibu District. The members of the Jiyuto (Liberal) Party were
suspected of being the masterminds behind the insurgency. Meanwhile, the
propaganda machine of the Meiji Government painted the grieving peasants
as nothing more than simple criminals, hooligans, and robbers.

Even though the ringleaders of the rioters were composed of active
thinkers from the Freedom and People's Rights Movement who fought for
better and equal treatment among all sectors of society (roughly the
same principles by which the Seikhoutai worked under) and the
reformation of the corrupt government itself, the biased media (in
accordance to the will of the administration) portrayed them as nothing
more than poor peasants looking for an easy way out of their mounting
debts.

The overwhelming victory that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police had over
these rebels again overshadowed the downright embarrassing display that
several Kanto Police Squads demonstrated in their effort to capture the
rebel Amakusa during his attempted assassination of Tetsuo Akahori.
Once more, newspapers didn't bother covering the incident in Shinshushin
in favor of the juicier Chichibu Riots of October 1884, especially since
the latter event painted the Meiji Government in a better light.

The Chichibu Incident only served as a symptom to the cancer that
Japanese society at the time currently suffered from. The masses hated
and mistrusted the government because they were having a hard time
adjusting to the rapid changes that the Meiji Restoration was
implementing in order to bring Japan to the twentieth century as a
superpower.

Those in power only cared to industrialize and make a stronger Japan
that would never be humiliated by incidents like the arrival of
Commodore Matthew C. Perry's black ships or the forced signing of
treaties like the Kanagawa Treaty of 1854. The Meiji Government didn't
give a damn about the people; all it cared for was saving face, hiding
embarrassment, and gaining more power, money, and prestige for itself on
the backs of its suffering citizens.

Bullshit like that made Yahiko wonder if defending such a selfish
government was even worth it. Alas, he'd already promised Sanosuke and
Kenshin that he was the one they could depend on when it came to dealing
with greedy pigs like Jusanro Tani (whose Shinshu summer home was
incidentally repossessed by Akahori himself, of all people).

Sano also made Myojin shoulder the character of "Evil", so the boy felt
that it was his duty to bear the responsibility of protecting the
helpless people that Zanza and the Hitokiri Battousai also fought to
defend back in the day.

However, Yahiko messed up his mission by allowing Amakusa to kill all
those men and by failing to bring him and Morinaga to justice, but he
wasn't about to give up.

'I will be stronger. I will make Kenshin and Sano proud. I will bring
Kaoru's Kamiya Kasshin Ryu to the next stage of its evolution. I can't
stop now. I have to keep moving.'

And so move he did. As soon as he'd (somewhat) recovered from his latest
injuries in the hands of Amakusa and Morinaga, he went back to the East
Valley to train his newest developed technique, the God on Earth.

He caught Kaede by surprise with that move, and it was quite the gamble
to use Minoe's name in order to make her hesitate long enough to get hit
by the technique.

Myojin narrowed his eyes. 'Minoe...'

There was one problem though.

"DOU GAMI!"

He couldn't do it again. He'd been at it all morning, and he couldn't
get the God on Earth to work.

"Dammit! DOU GAMI!" He tried again, and the result was the same. His
sakabatou tilled the soil and did nothing more. He tried breaking a
boulder. All he did was chip it away with the God Hammer.

He tried it on harder ground, thinking that the lack of explosive
leverage from the soil was keeping him from busting out his newest sword
technique.

He couldn't get the timing right. His second recoiling strike wasn't
fast enough to hit the point of impact where the resistance of the
ground was cancelled out by the initial strike. So was what he did back
in the Akahori Mansion a fluke?

After his hundredth failure, his strike producing nothing more than
clumps of dust and small rock fragments, he decided to bring his
attention back to the first experimental strike he'd ever devised that
worked in a fight: The God Hammer.

The God on Earth was basically a double strike using the initial recoil
to allow leverage for the second strike, so practicing his three-hit
attack should help his muscle memory remember the correct way of doing
the move.

"TSUI GAMI!"

Again and again, he hit the bamboo shoots in front of him with triple
strikes that looked like single strikes to the naked eye. The technique
he used to break apart Soujiro's blade in their duel proved quite useful
in keeping both Shogo and Kaede on their toes.

However, while at the time he could hit the Tsui Gami at will, this time
around, some of the bamboo stalks fell, while others were only partially
severed. It was just as Yahiko feared. He couldn't keep up a consistent
triple strike every time, which also explained why he had such a hard
time replicating that explosive strike that blew him, Akahori, and
Morinaga away (literally).

Drenched in sweat and frustration, Yahiko bludgeoned one last bamboo
stalk apart, failed to completely sever it, and fell down on his back,
his eyes facing straight up the green-tinged heavens while he lay down
on the forest floor. He shut his eyes and let the pain wash over his
body.

'Kenshin's sword... is so heavy.'

His shoulder hurt like hell. His whole body felt like he'd been kicked
around by yakuza thugs (and he knew this from experience).

Were his wounds the reason why he couldn't do the Dou Gami or the Tsui
Gami consistently? Maybe. But he was already severely wounded when he
did them. Or rather, did he need to be in a life-or-death situation to
make the moves work? They weren't reliable techniques if he needed to be
half-dead and stressed out to execute them.

"No. That's nonsense. I can still do the Tsui Gami. I only need to be
more accurate and consistent in doing it. I don't care if I was able to
do the Dou Gami through beginner's luck. I can do it again. I just need
more practice, dammit."

"That's what you get for stealing other people's techniques, Yoshi-boy."

"Wha...?"

Yahiko woke up with a start. Right above him towered the bulky hulk of a
man he underestimated so much and who saved his life several times
during Amakusa's assassination plot. "Gan. What the heck are you doing
here?"

"That's the Great Gan to you, kiddo, and I'm here at Kaori's request. I
was told to fetch you in exchange for a bowl of Tanuki Udon."

By "Kaori", the Nicknaming Gan meant Chizuru Raikouji, the granddaughter
of a foreign goods merchant who, strangely enough, looked like the
spirit and image of Kaoru Kamiya.

No, Yahiko had no idea where that goon got that name either, or why it
sounded disturbingly like his kendo master's given name.

The Kaoru look-alike who was roughly the same age as the young wife of
Kenshin Kamiya (nee Himura) was staying in Shinshu and served as the
Sakaguchis' friendly neighborhood... neighbor.

For the past few days, Yahiko had been living under bridges and bathing
in nearby streams as a way to get used to life as a wanderer. Both
Chizuru and the Sakaguchis offered him a place to stay in their own
respective homes, but he felt that their help while he was recovering
from his wounds (and all the free food to boot) was more than enough
assistance.

He even insisted on paying for the food and lodging he received so that
he wouldn't seem like a gigantic moocher like Gan was (Yahiko still got
some money from the food bet he made when he first met the hooligan plus
his traveling budget before he headed out to a "warrior's pilgrimage" of
sorts), but no less than the man of the house himself, Satoru Sakaguchi,
wouldn't hear of it.

Myojin didn't want to impose on them or anything, which was also the
reason why he never gave the Higashidanis (Sanosuke's biological family)
a second visit even though his student, Outa, was present there.

How was he supposed to learn how to live on his own when all these
people around him kept persisting on helping him out? He appreciated
the gesture, but he couldn't afford to be soft when his travels were
supposed to make him into a stronger fighter.

Speaking of which, the other person who saved his life by keeping her
frail hands pressed on his punctured shoulder to stop him from bleeding
to death... Tetsuo's daughter, Rin... gave him and the Sakaguchis a
house visit a few days before to hand him part of the reward for
protecting the Akahoris.

Although her expression, her darting gray irises, her milky hair, and
her ghostly appearance remained as haunting as ever, she was still the
brave little girl that kept him from kicking the bucket altogether.

Ironically, on that day, it was Rin who honored Yahiko for saving her,
her father, and Soujiro's lives even though, in his eyes, it should've
been the other way around.

"Thank you for saving Seta-kun's life," she had whispered to Yahiko
while personally handing the reward on top of the wages he received
alongside the police officers who survived the incident.

"You got it mixed up. Psycho-Kid did all the work, and so did the Kanto
Police Squads. Also, I wouldn't be here talking to you if it weren't
for you and your help when I was fatally wounded," he confessed.

The pale-skinned girl adjusted her tinted glasses and parasol. She even
bothered going out in the sun to deliver the money personally to Yahiko.
What a girl. Soujiro was lucky to have a girlfriend like her.

"Then let's just call it even, Myojin-kun."

Even after Yahiko insisted that he couldn't take the money and offered
giving it to the Sakaguchis for all their trouble instead, everyone
nevertheless made him take it.

Originally, Myojin planned to work on the road to sustain his travel
expenses like Kenshin did when he was a vagabond. Thankfully, with all
the money he gathered from Sano's ancestral town, he may be able to go
all the way to Kyoto without having to take odd jobs and part-time work
for his train fees.

'But how can I take all that money when it was the policemen who gave up
their lives to wound Amakusa that helped take him out?' Yahiko reasoned
to himself.

Tokyo Captain Ujiki, the Kamiminochi Squad, and the Togakudan all helped
wear the rebel leader down. It was also Soujiro who should've taken that
reward because he was the one who defeated Shogo and thoroughly beat up
Morinaga.

'I feel like a Johnny-come-lately fraud for reaping the fruits of
everybody else's labor.'

"Stop being embarrassed already, Yoshi-boy. They all just want to help
you out after all the good things you've done for them. I heard you
even stopped the town from being overrun by thugs from Kaori-neechan
herself! You should let them shower you with their little tokens of
appreciation!"

Yahiko rolled his eyes. In contrast to him, Mister Food Bandit was more
than happy to take his share of free food and lodging from strangers
without so much as a howdy-do despite the fact that he himself got a
hefty amount of money as his wages for a day's work as the Oyakata's
(extra) bodyguard.

"That Kaori... Kaoru... I mean, Chizuru... is such a busybody. She
should mind her own business."

"And you're a reckless idiot for coming out here after nearly _dying_ in
the hands of Kumamoto and Samurai X." By Kumamoto, the Nosy Gan meant
Amakusa, while Samurai X referred to Morinaga.

"Ugh. Whatever. You know I'm thankful to all of them." Yahiko snorted,
but said nothing more as he rubbed his sore shoulder and looked at the
ground. After a few moments of silence, he yelped, "What did you mean by
saying that I stole a technique from someone else? What technique? And
whose technique was it?"

"You stole _my_ Happa when you did that exploding ground thingy against
Samurai X with your blunt sword, you little snot!"

Yahiko had to jump back as Gan wielded his metal bat and blasted the
forest floor in front of him into smithereens.

"The Dou Gami isn't some simple technique that blasts the ground apart,
you dunderhead! It has some sound scientific principles backing it, and
it's a lot more powerful to boot!"

"You mean this powerful?" Gan leaped back, arched his whole body, and
did another Happa that blasted rock, earth, trees, and bamboo away like
a dusty sandstorm. Had Yahiko not sidestepped in time, he would've been
caught by the dirty hurricane.

'Holy cow. He can raise the impact of his Happa. That was almost as
strong as the Dou Gami I did last, last week. If he's this strong, no
wonder Amakusa fainted in the middle of their match.'

Yahiko now had a hard time arguing which technique was more powerful in
light of the fact that Gan uprooted trees with one shot of his tetsubo.
The setup and execution might not be the same, but the destructive power
of both the Happa and God on Earth were pretty close. Gan was capable of
all _this_ after nearly having his head severed by Shogo Amakusa himself
just two weeks ago to boot!

"I have no idea how a tiny man like you with your puny sword is able to
blast away a wall with a technique as powerful as dynamite, but I can do
as much damage too if I put my back into it."

"Yeah, but I can do my technique faster than you. You were wide open
when you did that Happa thing. You practically telegraphed it to me. No
wonder Amakusa was able to do all those counterattacks when he fought
you."

"Oh, that's cute. Because I can bust out my Happa anytime I want. You,
on the other hand, couldn't even do that one technique you're so proud
of more than once."

Yahiko gulped. Dammit, Gan got him there. He subsequently turned his
back on the uppity brute. "Fine. Stop showing off. I get it. You're
stronger than me. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be off to train some
more. Go use your technique at a rock quarry or something and stop
bothering me."

"Okay, then. But you can't use bamboo shoots to practice your sword-
breaking technique," the Persistent Gan remarked.

Yahiko groaned and asked, "Why not?"

"Even though bamboo is easier to break than steel," the Wise Gan
illustrated his point by taking a stalk and tearing it in half, "it's
also more flexible and can absorb abuse better."

He then wrapped the half torn fibers of the bamboo stalk around Yahiko's
forearm like a piece of cloth. "See? Your technique where you hit things
three times at the same point really fast is the wrong way to break
bamboo because it sways and bends after every strike, which wastes all
your energy."

Gan made swishing movements with his hand. "Soon, in order to cut the
bamboo cleanly, you'll be doing chopping motions instead of the
hammering blows you used to break swords apart. Your muscle memory will
be relearning the wrong technique. If you want to practice your move,
use something more rigid."

"I see. Not bad. You're actually making sense for once, Gan." Even
Yahiko had to confess that what his companion said made a little bit of
sense. "What do you suggest I do, though? It's not as if I could pick a
fight with the police and use their sabers for sword-breaking practice."

Gan broke a thick, curved branch from a nearby uprooted tree, snapped
off the smaller twigs and leaves, and brandished it like a gnarled sword
of sorts. "It's not steel, but at least it's more rigid and stiffer than
bamboo. Now try to break this branch apart while I attack you."

"Eh? WAH! Wait a minute! OW! I wasn't prepared that time! OUCH!" Yahiko
backpedaled as Gan swung into action. What was that brain-dead moron
talking about? Practicing the timing of the God Hammer in this instance
where his enemy was actually attacking was a lot harder than breaking
apart a couple of defenseless bamboo stalks.

Myojin protested, "I thought Chizuru made you fetch me because she
didn't want me wandering around while _injured_! You're aggravating my
injuries more than I would've by practicing alone!"

"Stop whining. You were the one who wanted to polish your techniques.
This sparring match is a lot more realistic than chopping down bamboo
that can't fight back," Gan mocked before standing still and changing
his demeanor. Yahiko then raised his eyebrow as the bandanna-wearing
Soba King said some familiar lines.

"I am a force of nature. I'm like a tsunami or a typhoon, if tsunamis or
typhoons could talk and never shut up. I am the Son of God who will
bring my people to paradise by fighting against a government that
actually lifted the ban on my religion. Us Saviors of Mankind don't need
to make much sense. According to Gan 3:16, your ass is as good as
kicked!"

While holding back his laughter, Yahiko played along with the Impish
Gan's shenanigans by making a closed-eye, smiling face and commenting,
"That's quite an interesting story, Mister Gan. I wonder... Can a force
of nature like you bleed? Cry out in pain? Get crippled? Maimed? Beaten
to a pulp? Let's explore those interesting possibilities together, shall
we?"

The branch broke in half within three strokes (or one Tsui Gami) of
Yahiko's sakabatou. The Grinning Gan wordlessly took another curved
piece of wood from the fallen tree and attacked the Tokyo Samurai
Descendant anew.

"S-Stupid Yoshi-boy! Don't look at me like that! I-It's not like I'm
striking you with branches because I want to help you improve your
technique or anything!"

"Baka Soku Zan. I will... Kill. Idiots. Instantly. I fight for the sake
of a smarter future. Prepare yourself, Lord of Fools!"

The two "grown" men continued to play around like little boys till the
afternoon, their bodies screaming at them in agony, but their minds not
minding the pain one bit.


===


Back on November 7, 1884; within the Akahori Manor's ballroom about two
hours or so after midnight...

A hint of a smirk appeared on the otherwise blank expression on Kaede's
face. "We're going to fight the Ten Ken, aren't we? Shishio Makoto's
right-hand man? The person who broke Battousai's nigh-indestructible
sword? I can't wait." She undressed right away, which prompted Amakusa
to turn his back and wait.

Morinaga turned her clothes inside out, revealing another kimono with a
different shade of blue underneath. She ruffled her compressed "helmet
hair" before retying it into a topknot ponytail hairstyle more suited
for the Bakumatsu.

A pair of tekko or fingerless swordsman's hand guards hidden inside her
literal turncoat fell to the floor, which she picked up and wore right
over her hand wraps for extra protection. Once she was done dressing up,
Morinaga told Amakusa, "I'm ready."

Shogo turned in time to see the spirit and image of Battousai himself
from sixteen to twenty years back appear before him. The only things
missing to make the illusion flawless were (of course) the correct
placement of the scars over the cheek instead of directly underneath
the eye, the size of the scars, and the missing daisho or twin swords
that swordsmen from the Bakumatsu were most known for.

Otherwise, a quick glance would have people thinking that this truly was
the infamous manslayer; either that or a little girl pretending to be
the Battousai.

"Come with me, Shogo-sama. I hid my sword somewhere above the ceiling of
this mansion," Morinaga beckoned, her demeanor, posture, and gait as
completely transformed as her appearance. "You can use its sheath to
replace the one that the Myojin boy broke. It should help you in our
battle against the Ten Ken."

Amakusa scratched his chin and shrugged. "It probably won't fit as well
as I'd like, but it's better than nothing at all. Those boys you've met
here in Shinshu were surprisingly bothersome."

>From there, they heard Yahiko's cries and shrieks for the mutilated body
that he thought was Minoe, the hallucinogens from Shogo's artificially
created Rai Ryu Sen continuing to skew the boy's perception of reality.

Kaede froze into place and stared back at the Tokyo Samurai Descendant
right below her from over her shoulder, fancying herself a disembodied
spirit looking at her other self.

As Yahiko released pent-up feelings and frustrations over an ashen world
filled with shades of gray, she imagined him to be another her who was
learning an important life lesson right then and there: The
simpleminded, black-and-white morality of a child had no place in this
cruel world.

"Are you okay?" inquired Amakusa to his distracted apprentice. "You
can't afford to be merciful in these circumstances. You have to brace
yourself and harden your heart or else that devil Akahori or his
brainwashed Heaven Sword will eat you alive."

Shogo brushed away the stray bits of hair that covered the shorter
woman's scarred eye and smooth, supple lips. Up until now, he could
barely believe Doraku's claims that they were the same age.

"I'm sorry I got you involved with my problems. I have to again borrow
your strength in order to achieve something that's greater than either
you or me."

Morinaga took hold of the Battousai of Style's hand and put it on her
scarred cheek. "Don't apologize... and don't worry. My strength is
yours, Lord Shogo. I know you're destined for great things, and I'm
happy to be a part of your legend."

"Minoe more or less said the same thing."

"Of course he did."


===


Around noontime on November 7, 1884; somewhere inside a log cabin within
the Nagano wilderness...

Morinaga awoke. Her blurry eyes focused and saw the genuflecting figure
of Amakusa praying at an altar to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

"Shogo-sama..."

So they'd already arrived at one of Shogo's many hideouts scattered
across Japan. She could hear the horses neighing from the stable nearby.

"Ah, you're already awake, Morinaga."

She got off her futon and began rolling it back. "Wasn't I already awake
before? Did I faint again?"

"Don't you remember? You slept like a log as soon as we got here."

"Ah. My apologies. And to think, you suffered a more thorough beating
than I did, and I was the one who slept first..."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Morinaga. You needed the rest. You took
on the Togakudan, the Ten Ken, and that troublesome kid who hasn't
killed anyone all by yourself."

She cleared her throat. "Well... did you get a good night's sleep too?
Your eyes are bloodshot and you look absolutely exhausted."

"...I can sleep later. I don't feel like sleeping right now."

Kaede sighed as she looked at the thick layer of spent ashes of incense
on the floor. "Oh, Shogo-sama. With all due respect, you should take
your own advice. Don't be so hard on yourself."

She made clucking sounds with her tongue and the roof of her mouth as
she went out back, took a broom, and swept the floor.

"Oh, that's right. Yesterday was Lady Magdalia's six-year death
anniversary. I'm sorry for my insolence, Lord Shogo."

"Actually, yesterday was the death anniversary of many people, not just
my sister or our dearly departed Christian friends," reminded Amakusa.
"We should pray for those souls as well. We should also pray for the
brave Kanto Police Squads who risked their lives to save the worthless
hide of that Sodomite, Akahori. We must never forget everyone's
sacrifices."

"Yes, of course. You're absolutely right." Morinaga sat beside her liege
and prayed alongside him.

Because Kakure Kirishitan had to hide their religion right under the
noses of the Anti-Christian authorities for centuries-on-end, certain
Buddhist and Shinto practices had merged with typical Christian
traditions.

This explained why Shogo's altar for the Virgin Mary had incense on it
as well as candles and why he clapped his hands a couple of times while
praying instead of doing so with only the sign of the cross.

Centuries of persecution and concealment had made the foreigner religion
evolve into something uniquely oriental and Japanese altogether.

After they were done praying, Kaede said, "Lady Magdalia. She was the
first one among everyone in your group who figured out I was a girl
instead of a boy. Her female intuition is scary, at times."

"She was a brave woman, my sister. She supported me till the end of her
days, and she was the one who saved my life instead of the other way
around. I owe everything to her. It's because of her and all the people
who died six years ago that I must continue to be the Savior of the
Japanese Christians. Our war against Akahori and the Meiji Government
has just begun."

Morinaga winced as the memory of two Amakusas appeared in her mind, one
with his sword broken and his chest bleeding, and another with a cross-
shaped scar that intersected on the bridge of his nose and covered his
entire face.

Had Kaede not helped the dying Magdalia fetch Amakusa and his kagemusha
or doppelganger, Shogo would've died that fateful day and it would've
been his death anniversary that she'd be celebrating alongside his
sister's.

Magdalia and Kaede were there to witness the Fake Shogo nearly kill the
Real Shogo after the two faced off in a duel to the death for some
reason in the middle of the battlefield filled with Kakure Kirishitan
and Japanese Imperial Army corpses.

More to the point, it was Magdalia who begged the traitorous kagemusha
to not finish off Amakusa after the former countered the once
unstoppable technique, the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki, of the latter.

Morinaga wasn't privy of the details, but she knew enough to understand
that it was Shogo's body double that betrayed him and the growing Secret
Christian rebellion to the Meiji Government and Tetsuo Akahori.

The kagemusha was also Shogo's Judas Iscariot (whom from what Morinaga
gleaned from Sunday Mass, the Kakure Kirishitan version of Holy Week,
and constant bible readings from Amakusa and his ministry, was the
apostle that betrayed Jesus Christ to the Pharisees and the Romans for
thirty pieces of silver).

'I won't be the same as that kagemusha traitor. I'll never betray Lord
Shogo the way he did,' Morinaga vowed to herself. She then sniffed and
smelled something fragrant on her face. By reflex, she scrambled for her
wakizashi, pulled it out of its scabbard, and checked her reflection on
her blade.

She then marveled at how the swelling around her eye finally subsided
after it was repeatedly hit by Soujiro's scabbard. "Amazing. My eyelid
and cut brow ridge is back to their normal size. Did you do something
about this, Shogo-sama?"

Amakusa nodded. "I hope you don't mind. Multiple police squads will be
searching for us soon, and it'd be easier to disguise ourselves and
blend in with the crowd if our injuries are taken care of immediately."

"I understand. You really have thought everything through. So what drugs
did you use to heal the swelling around my eye?" Kaede asked.

"Would you believe it's aloe vera?" said Amakusa as he went out to the
back of the cabin to gather water from the well. "Herbal cures work in a
pinch, and Anti-Inflammatory Western Medicine is derived mostly from
plants and other natural ingredients anyway."

"So aloe vera isn't only good for your hair, huh?" she remarked as she
looked out the window and smelled the earthy scent of the Nagano
wilderness.

Even her punctured forearm, which the Heaven Sword stabbed as she went
straight for his foot, was properly bandaged. The earlier numbness of
her hand had disappeared, replaced by a throbbing pain that, while
unpleasant, reassured her that she'd at least have full use of the limb
once it healed.

She patted her stomach and the valley between her unbound breasts. She
then went red as a tomato. "D-Did you redress my bandages too?"

Shogo kept his back turned at Kaede as he confirmed, "Yes. I hope you
can forgive me. I... had no choice. You'd lose too much blood if you
were left with all those wounds undressed... I mean, not bandaged."

Morinaga looked away and averted staring at Amakusa's lithe form while
hugging herself and keeping her kimono tightly wrapped around her body.

In reaction to this, Shogo bowed and apologized to her profusely, which
made her chuckle. She could count the number of times she saw the proud
and godly Amakusa prostrate himself like that in one hand.

"It's okay. I don't mind. You didn't have any ill intentions. Thank you
for tending to my wounds, Shogo-sama."

"I... I should've been more sensitive to you and your plight. I really
should've asked for your permission to do that, but you were already
fast asleep."

"My plight? My... permission?"

"It's all in consideration of what happened to you in the past, of
course."

There it was. The elephant in the room that remained unaddressed for the
longest time since they escaped the mansion: Akahori's revelation in
regards to the origin of Morinaga's cross-shaped scar.

Kaede couldn't recall any of it, though. "My past? I don't understand."

"Don't you remember what Akahori said about your past?" asked Amakusa.
"I talked to you about the same thing too, during our bible studies."

"That's impossible. I hated your pretentious lectures about how Jesus
saves and heals all wounds," protested Morinaga, still confused in
regards to what Shogo was talking about.

Amakusa scratched his head. "Oh, is that so? I must have misremembered,
then. You're right. It's none of my business."

The Hidden Christian leader shut his eyes. 'She forgot again, huh? After
being reminded of her past trauma, she repressed the memory once more.'

The fact that Akahori dared to use that horrible memory against Morinaga
made Amakusa's blood boil. 'He crossed the line. Hell is too good for
him.'

Unbidden, Kaede's hand traveled to the twin marks underneath her left
eye. How did she get those scars again?

She remembered.

She remembered how the scary Doraku Akatsuki confessed to her that
Mizuki Morinaga, her adoptive courtesan mother, was killed by accident
while he was facing off with some of his enemies.

She remembered Akatsuki giving her the choice to train under his
tutelage so that she could become strong enough to kill him someday...
for revenge.

Knowing how well she did against the Ten Ken and how old Doraku was now,
that day might not be far off.

At the time, she thought he was a crazy maniac that only she could take
down; a maniac that clothed her and provided her food and shelter while
they traveled together.

So how did she get those scars, then?

Her head hurt.

"Your hatred of lectures must be why you were so cold towards me when
you first joined our church back in Shimabara," remarked Shogo.

"Was I really that aloof?" she asked.

"Half of the time, I thought you wanted to kill me!" he answered with a
chuckle.

"Pardon me, then." She laughed. She couldn't remember it now, but back
then, she might have been more than a little insufferable. Probably.

There were a lot of gaps in her memories... perhaps because some of
them, she didn't want to remember.

"Thank you, Morinaga."

"For what, Lord Shogo?"

"For sticking with me and my followers to the bitter end. You had what
you wanted. You knew how to counter the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu and seen for
your own eyes its secrets. And yet you stayed behind and fought a war
that didn't concern you."

"I chose to stay." She beamed. "And besides, like I said earlier, I
still want to know how to perfectly counter the Amakakeru Ryu no
Hirameki. I came close with the Ten Ken's Shun Ten Satsu, which is about
as fast, but I still have a lot to learn."

He smiled back. "I see."

She curtsied. "I'll leave myself to your care for the foreseeable
future, then."

He bowed in return. "It'll be my pleasure."

She then remembered something else.

She remembered that her scars were "presents" by the group of opium-
drugged hidden weapon experts... customers of her mother... who grabbed
her and had their way with her while her mother watched in tears and
bled to death.

They killed Mizuki and ravaged Kaede because the younger Morinaga looked
like the Hitokiri Battousai. Kenshin Himura didn't finish his assassins
off, which allowed them to run amok across Yoshiwara and ruin the
Morinagas' peaceful lives.

Akatsuki lied to her.

She remembered being angry at her master for his lies and for killing
the people that did those horrible things to her and Mizuki in the first
place before she had a chance to get her revenge.

She remembered hunting for Kenshin, the key to her past. She shut her
eyes. How long had she been chasing after the shadow of the Hitokiri
Battousai? Six years? Seven? But in the end...

"I hated Battousai's name and his reputation. I hated that I looked like
him. I know he isn't really the one to blame for what happened to me,
but he's nevertheless the reason why I became part of your group: So
that I could learn how to counter his Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu."

She sat down, and Shogo sat beside her. "It's hard to explain why I've
been stalking Battousai for so long. I learned a lot about him during my
days as part of Shishio Makoto's spies, but I haven't really met him.
If you ask me now what drives me to do what I do, I could never really
give you a clear answer."

"I know," confessed Amakusa. "I already knew this long ago."

"Huh? But how?" demanded Morinaga.

"You still don't remember?" Shogo questioned.

"Remember what? I never told you anything at all! Did Lady Magdalia
reveal to you my secrets?" said Kaede in askance.

Amakusa grabbed hold of the Battousai of Speed's ginger head and ruffled
her rust-colored hair. "Never mind. I must've been mistaken again."

The Fake Battousai made her cheeks balloon as she (ironically) objected,
"Stop treating me like a child!" She sighed as she spaced out. "Have I
really forgotten...?"

Shogo wiped the sweat off of his brow and adjusted his headband. "I must
have been talking to another you, probably."

"Oh," said Kaede as her bangs hid her eyes in their collective shadow.
"Another me, huh?"

The Kakure Kirishitan leader coughed hard.

"I understand what you're saying completely, though. By searching for
the man whose infamous name and reputation ruined your life, you're
essentially trying to find yourself and your true identity. That man
holds a piece of your puzzle. He's the loose end you have to face in
order for you to mature as a person and move on."

Amakusa took his freshly sharpened Sword of Light and Darkness, sheathed
it inside a new metal scabbard, and slipped the weapon into his cloth
belt.

"Don't worry. This time around, you're not alone. Like with Shishio and
his Ten Swords, you now have the Battousai Group to rely on. Give new
meaning to your life by lending me your strength and helping me bring
about the downfall of the Meiji Government. My utopia is at hand."


===


That afternoon, as Gan returned to the Sakaguchi Residence with a
kicking, screaming, and aching Yahiko in tow, the Peculiar Chicken...
named "Sanosuke"... that was tied at the back of the Sakaguchi Soba Shop
crowed at the sunset.

"You're leaving already?" asked Nonoko Sakuguchi because Yahiko had just
gotten there. It had been many days since he left the soba owner's
abode.

"Aren't you still injured? You were barely able to recover from your
injuries a month ago, and it's only been two weeks since you almost bled
to death while stopping some terrorists from killing Mister Akahori!
Listen to reason and stay with us for at least a week longer!" added
Nonoko.

"The least you could do is say goodbye, Yahiko-san!" chimed in a pouting
Kyoko Sakaguchi. "You've done so much for our village. What would
everyone think if you were to leave in a huff without so much as a
farewell?"

Yahiko exhaled and kept his head bowed low. 'What is she talking about?
They're the same people who asked me to go home after I kept a gang of
imposters from terrorizing their town. Those ingrates trust me as far as
they can throw me.'

To Kyoko, the teenager instead said, "Is your father home? I've made up
my mind. I've already bid goodbye to the relatives of some of my friends
here in Shinshu, and I want to say goodbye to Mister Sakaguchi, Missus
Sakaguchi, you, and everyone else as well."

"Hey, Kaori-neechan! Where's my soba? I got Yoshi-boy back like you
asked me to! OW!" Instead of soba, Gan got a face-full of skillet.

"You've been mooching off the Sakaguchis all this time! It's like you
never even paid off your debt, you gluttonous pig!" she screamed.

"That was I told him!" piped up Yahiko before biting down his lower lip
as soon as Kao... Chizuru aimed her death glare at him. 'Jeez, what did
I do this time?'

"So you're finally going, huh?" the Raikouji daughter asked, her arms
crossed in front of her chest as she tapped her sandaled feet on the
ground.

"Yeah. I can't believe we were able to get through all... that, um,
crap. Well, see you around, I guess!"

"Have fun!" was what Yahiko expected Chizuru to say. Instead, a slipper
hit him on the face while he sarcastically drawled, "Yeah, I'll miss you
too!" with a muffled voice.

"Get a room," was what Gan wanted to say. "Get a sonofaBITCH!" was what
he squeaked out after getting kneed to the groin yet again, his knees
sinking to the ground as his family jewels clanged upon impact.

His eyes half-lidded, Yahiko wondered if Amakusa would've finished Gan
off a lot sooner in their fight had the rebel just aimed at the
hooligan's crotch.

"It's nice to see you're still as violent as ever. I will take note that
the ones acting like a married couple are you and Gan, though."

"So what happened to the Fake Battousai? Was he finally caught and put
to justice?" Chizuru queried with sparkling eyes and an expectant grin.

''He', huh? Interesting.' The Son of Tokyo Samurai scratched his cheek.

Yahiko didn't even begin to know what to say to Chizuru in regards to
Morinaga, who served as Raikouji's counterpart and another look-alike to
the Kenshin-Kaoru coupling.

Or the fact that he fought a Christian Cult Leader who knew the same
sword style as Kenshin for some reason. Or the fact that Kaede was
actually a crossdressing girl. Or the fact that Minoe was...

'Minoe.'

The eye-patched, wig-wearing Togakudan member was a whole other enigma
for Myojin to solve. He couldn't even bring up that person's name in his
thoughts because he himself couldn't make heads or tails out of him. 'Or
her.'

Yahiko eventually stated, "Uh... It's complicated. You wouldn't believe
me even if I told you."

Chizuru answered, "Try me."

The samurai boy laughed with a plastered smile that didn't quite reach
his eyes. "I'd rather not." He couldn't help but be reminded of Kaoru
after seeing Chizuru's angry eyes and self-entitled demeanor.

Even after all those years since Chizuru met Kenshin back in Tokyo, she
still hadn't forgotten him. Heck, her little speech about how the real
Hitokiri Battousai rescued her from a group of disgruntled swordsmen
known as the "Forces of Heaven" helped Yahiko win over the citizens of
Shinshu and stop them from being terrorized by Keisuke's Fake Battousai
Group.

Kenshin was happily married with a kid, though, so Yahiko had no idea
what she was going to get out of meeting the former hitokiri at this
point in time.

The Tokyo Samurai Descendant didn't need to be Benzaiten, the Japanese
Goddess of Love and Luck, to tell that the Kaoru look-alike was heads
over heels smitten by the cross-scarred former vagabond.

Whenever Chizuru spoke about Kenshin, she had the same love-struck look
as Kaoru did. The _exact_ same look, because of how much the identical
strangers resembled each other.

Regardless, Yahiko was put on the spot by Chizuru, so he had no choice
but to answer, "The Fake Battousai that looks like Kenshin and another
Fake Battousai that practiced the same sword style as Kenshin got away,"
to appease her curiosity.

"Eh? That's it? They got away after claiming they're out to assassinate
an important government official? How lame." Chizuru's mouth became a
moue of doubt and skepticism. "Did you even meet them? Were you able to
cross swords with them? Or is this secondhand information I'm getting?"

"Hey! Don't be rude! I _did_ tangle with them! Mister Sakaguchi himself
confirmed that I crossed swords with at least one of them!" yelped
Yahiko defensively. What, did she think he got all his wounds by
tripping all over himself or something?

Chizuru raised an eyebrow of challenge at the teenager. "Yeah, I know he
did, but I have my doubts."

"Ch-Chizuru-san's obviously kidding, Yahiko-san! I mean, even Akahori-
san's own daughter came here to personally thank you for saving their
lives...!" Kyoko tried to interject, but Chizuru talked over her
attempts at reassurance.

"Well, if you really did fight the Battousai or _Battousais_, prove it
to me! What did the Fake Battousai look like? What's the deal with this
Battousai Group I keep hearing about? And what about that guy whom you
claim has the same sword style as the vagabond? Inquiring minds need to
know!"

Oh, so that was her game, huh? Yahiko almost fell for it hook, line, and
sinker. At any rate, he answered, "I have no idea." She didn't need to
know about the deluded Shogo Amakusa and Kenshin's doppelganger, Kaede
Morinaga.

Chizuru turned towards the trembling, teary-eyed Kyoko and made the
latter wince as she said, "See? He's full of hot air. He didn't really
meet those assassins. He must've been injured by the crossfire or
something!"

"...I can tell you this much, though: Those two terrorists have no
connection with Kenshin other than his old Ishin Shishi name. You've
come upon another dead end in your search for your vagabond, Chizuru."

Chizuru went silent as her face was drained of color. "That's... really
disappointing to hear. So they were only using his _name_, weren't they?
To think, I came all the way to Shinshushin for...!"

Yahiko thought Chizuru's reaction would be priceless, but he felt
something other than smug satisfaction when she looked back at him.

"Hey."

"W-What?"

"Do you really want to meet Himura Kenshin? You know, so that you can
confirm he's the same vagabond that rescued you all those years ago. I
can give you his home address, if you want."


===


Next: Origin of an imposter's name.

Disclaimer: All characters used in this fanfic (save some others)
are the rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shueisha, Shonen
Jump, Viz, Sony Studios, Fuji TV, Studio Gallop, Studio Deen, and
ADV. This disclaimer also covers all the other copyrighted
material that are far too many to mention here. Don't sue me
please, I'm very poor.

Open your eyes,
Abdiel