Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Baptism of Blood ❯ Desire to Protect ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

March, 1863
Aki, Hiko's mountain

The midday sun was high in the sky, signaling the hour of the horse. This of course meant that it was time for midday dinner. Hiko Seijuro XIII's stomach rumbled in anticipation of some food. He had been busy practicing his own kata since early this morning and needed to replenish his energy.

The sword master noticed with some consternation that the water buckets lay untouched in the corner. It was well past time for Kenshin to have gone and fetched water from the river so he could begin cooking their midday dinner. This was getting way out of hand.

Hiko had noticed traits in Kenshin that he didn't like developing recently: Laziness and insolence. Sure, it was fine to take a short rest after a hard morning of training, but lately, he would find Kenshin sleeping just about anywhere and everywhere after his practices when he should be doing his chores. Hiko would get on his case about it, only to receive a smart answer back. Respect was becoming a point of contention between them as was strongly evidenced by the empty water buckets.

"Oi baka deshi, where are those buckets of water? You can't cook our midday dinner without water!" Hiko roared at the top of his voice, pausing momentarily to breathe before drinking more sake.

A muffled voice emanated from behind the closed door of Kenshin's room.

"Shishou! Not after practicing all morning. I'm tired," moaned the boy, dropping his head against the pillow and closing his eyes.

Quite the next moment, Kenshin heard footsteps tromping into the room. Before he had time to react, Hiko had grabbed him by his ankles and was dragging him out of the room to the buckets. Hiko didn't let go of Kenshin's ankles till they'd reached the buckets.

"Shishou!" cried Kenshin.

"Buckets first, then rest! NOW GO!" barked Hiko, jabbing his finger toward the river.

Kenshin got slowly to his feet, looking Hiko directly in the face, jaw jutting out stubbornly. Insolence and indignation shone in the boy's violet eyes. Moving with deliberate slowness, Kenshin picked up the buckets and sauntered haughtily out of the cabin.

Scenes like this one were becoming more the rule than the exception of late. There were frequent arguments about practice time, techniques and chores once done without question. In the beginning, Hiko had taunted and baited Kenshin into arguments and fights with him because he had wanted to bring out the fighting spirit hidden beneath the fear and trauma the boy had suffered. However, it had worked too well! Now more often than not, there were glares, smart answers and just an over all flippant attitude.

The Hiten master opened the doors of the cabinet where he kept his sake supply only to find to his horror that he was down to one jug. With a sigh of weariness, Hiko concluded that he would need more sake to be able to put up with his baka deshi.

Hiko looked out the window at the red-haired boy who was just now returning from the river with two full buckets. With a sarcastic smirk, Hiko decided that there was no reason for him to go to town when he had an able-bodied deshi who had been getting too big for his monpei lately. A trip down to the village would be just the thing to burn off some of that excess energy.

Kenshin returned to the cabin and wordlessly set the buckets on the floor, not even glancing at his master. Suddenly, Kenshin whirled around and caught with no effort the bag of gold coins which Hiko had chucked at him.

"Oro?"

"Go to the village at the foot of the mountain and pick me up two jugs of sake. I'm running low," said Hiko.

"What about dinner?" asked the confused boy.

"You know I never eat my dinner without sake and if I have to train you without eating, I am going to be in a very nasty mood," glowered Hiko.

Kenshin nodded, not wanting to push his luck too far. He wasn't truly afraid of Hiko, but he barely found his master tolerable when he was in a decent mood. Without another word, Kenshin disappeared through the open door.

'At this rate, that boy will send me to an early grave before I even get a chance to teach him the secret,' mourned Hiko.

---
Kenshin made his way carefully down the mountain. As he moved, his left hand rested on the hilt of the katana at his side. It was only just last month that Hiko had FINALLY allowed him to carry it regularly and only because he'd successfully mastered the move in which he'd been training recently.

When Kenshin got to the village, his violet eyes surveyed the typical scene before him: A village full of dirt poor people doing the best they could to survive under the Bakufu's crushing rice tax system, which would take away more than half of anything they grew, made, earned, etc., leaving them with nothing.

Kenshin made his way to the sake vendor from whom Hiko always bought. The elderly man looked out through his barred window at the knock on his door frame. When he saw the red hair, his face warmed with a smile. Hiko and Kenshin made regular forays into the village and never failed to stop at his place. Fudoro found Kenshin a quiet, polite and altogether likable youth, though Hiko insisted that Kenshin was a mule-headed baka deshi. When he opened the fusuma, Kenshin bowed to him.

"Mornin' Kenshin. You here alone today?" asked Fudoro.

"Good morning, Fudoro-san. Yes, Shishou sent me to pick up two jugs of sake," said Kenshin, holding out the bag of coins.

"Ah, he must be drinking too much again," said Fudoro, taking the bag from Kenshin.

"He says I drive him to it," said Kenshin with a petulant frown.

"Well, don't mind him too much. Hiko-san's bark is worse than his bite. Alright, here you..." Fudoro's words died in his mouth as his eyes widened in horror.

Suddenly, Kenshin found himself yanked into the sake shop by his arm and the fusuma quickly slid shut behind him, not even giving him time to step out of his sandals. Fudoro gestured for the boy to be quiet and knelt at the window. Kenshin knelt down beside him and surveyed the scene.

Into the midst of the village tromped a gang of 12 sword-wielding ronin. Filthy and dressed in rags, they'd come to plunder and kill. Mercilessly, they started slashing and stabbing at people with their katana as everyone tried to get away from them.

"Dammit. I was afraid they'd come here," said Fudoro quietly.

"Who are they?" asked Kenshin in a hushed tone.

"A gang of ronin who have been tearing up and down the countryside for the past month. No one's been able to stop them. They've never been here till now," said Fudoro.

Kenshin's eyes widened in horror as one of them suddenly grabbed a young woman by the arm and started slicing at her kimono with his sword. Suddenly, Kenshin wasn't in Fudoro's shop anymore; he was back on the scene of the carnage that had led to his present relationship with Hiko. Little Shinta saw Akane, Sakura and Kasumi being mercilessly cut down before his eyes, their blood spattering in all directions. Shinta, being so small and weak, could do nothing but watch.

Kenshin's body shook in horror and rage as the ronin began to forcibly kiss the woman on the throat. Why didn't someone stop them? He moved a bit and heard the clunk of the steel sheath at his side. That was right... he was no longer the little weakling Shinta. Now he was a well-trained young swordsman who was very close to mastery of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. What was he doing in the shop?

Ignoring Fudoro's protests, Kenshin jumped to his feet, tore the fusuma open and ran out to face the ronin. He charged at the ronin assaulting the girl and unsheathed his sword, slicing the ronin's arm down the middle and forcing him to release the girl who got quickly to her feet and ran off as fast as she could in her geta and kimono. The ronin fell to the ground, howling in pain as blood spurted from the gash that stretched from his elbow to his wrist.

"You little punk!" roared another of the ronin, drawing his sword.

Kenshin swung his sword, blocking the ronin's sword, then finished with his sheath, knocking the sword from the guy's hand and breaking his arm in the process.

'HITEN MITSURUGI RYU, SO RYU SEN!'

Another ronin charged at Kenshin, swinging his katana low, only to hit empty air where the boy had just been. A shadow descending from on high was his only warning.

'HITEN MITSURUGI RYU, RYU TSUI SEN!'

Kenshin's katana hit enough of the ronin's shoulder to send him sprawling, but not enough to kill him.

The other ronin who had witnessed this spectacle now came charging toward Kenshin, swords drawn. For a moment, Kenshin panicked. There were so many of them! Then he remembered the new move he'd mastered that allowed him to carry his katana.

Kenshin struck the ground with his katana, channeling his ki through the blade toward the charging ronin.

'HITEN MITSURUGI RYU, DO RYU SEN!'

Ground and rock flew up, pelting them mercilessly. The ronin scattered like ants. In less than three minutes, 12 strong ronin had been beaten down by the diminutive 14-year-old. Catching his breath, Kenshin sheathed his katana. He'd done it! His sword, wielded according to the principles of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, had beaten the ronin! He couldn't wait to tell Shishou when he got back to the mountain. Shishou would be so proud of him and might even stop calling him Baka Deshi.

Ignoring the stares and murmurs of the people watching, Kenshin turned to head back to Fudoro's sake shop to retrieve his purchase. If he returned empty handed, Hiko would call him Baka Deshi no matter what he'd accomplished.

"Kenshin, that was incredible. I had no idea your training had come so far," said Fudoro, handing him the jugs.

"I was just glad to be able to stop them. That is the basis of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu," said Keshin quietly.

"Yes it is. With your sword school, you may be the one to bring peace to the land one day," said Fudoro hopefully.

'I, bring peace to the land,' thought Kenshin as he bowed and started to head out.

Kenshin thought that over. He was certainly much stronger now than he'd been four years ago. This time, he'd used his sword and saved a life, perhaps several lives.

As Kenshin headed to the edge of the village, a large man with a daisho at his side stepped out of the bushes and blocked his path. Nervously, Kenshin gripped the hilt of his katana with his left hand. He hadn't anticipated another fight so soon!

"Easy there, lad. I mean you no harm. I saw what you did back there and wanted to talk with you about your skills," said the large man.

"I have to get back to my shishou," said Kenshin, suddenly feeling more like a shy young boy than a swordsman who had just taken down 12 ronin.

"I'm sure you do, but I noticed that you seemed very passionate about stopping those thugs. How would you like to be able to not only stop more ronin, but also put an end to the Tokugawa Shogunate, which allows things like this to occur every day?" asked the large man.

"Well..." said Kenshin. "I'll listen, but then I really must get back."

"OK," said the large man. "My name is Omara Sadujino. I'm a scout for the Kiheitai of Choshuu and we could use someone with skills like yours."

"Kiheitai?" asked Kenshin. "Is that like the army?"

"Sort of, but it's a civilian militia put together by Takasugi Shinsaku of the Choshuu Clan to fight against the corrupt Bakufu, which allows this chaos to go on and just keeps taking more from the people instead of protecting them. Our goal is to restore the Emperor to power and make life better for the people of this country. In the Kiheitai, class and rank mean nothing. All we're looking for are those who can fight and want to protect the happiness of this nation's people," explained Omara.

"I want to do that!" said Kenshin, eyes brightening.

"So would you like to join?" asked Omara.

"Well, I need to talk to my shishou first. I'm not actually finished with my training yet," said Kenshin.

"Judging from what I saw today, you're fine just as you are," said Omara.

Kenshin's eyes widened. Fine as he was? Hiko was always putting him down and saying he wasn't good enough. But Fudoro-san and Omara-san obviously thought differently. Kenshin decided then and there that he would talk to Hiko and ask if they could join the Kiheitai.

"Let me talk to Shishou tonight. If you think I'm good, you should see him. He's more powerful than I am," said Kenshin.

"Hey, you'd both be welcome," said Omara. "I'll be at the Hiraya tonight. You and your shishou come see me tomorrow and we'll head to Hagi."

"Alright," said Kenshin happily. "Good day to you, Omara-san!"

Kenshin dashed off in high spirits. What a day! He'd stopped the 12 ronin all by himself and had already been asked to join a militia. He'd tell Hiko about it, they'd join the Kiheitai and overthrow the Shogunate and everything would be perfect thanks to them and Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu.