Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ will to live ❯ chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Author's notes: I'm really sorry for the lack of updates but I've been really busy plus I've been getting really sick lately. WARNING: This chapter is going to go slower than the others because it's setting up the plot of the story but once I've gotten everything ready the story will get a lot better, I promise. Thanks for the reviews! By the way, this is only rated R because some parts defiantly aren't suited for children but other than that it's PG-13.

"Speech"

`Thoughts'

Last Chapter:

"What is it that you came here for?" There at the dojo gate was non other than the Wolf of Mibu, Hajime Saitoh.

Chapter Five:

Kenshin glared at the unwanted visitor hoping he would leave him in peace. Anger filled Kenshin as stared at Saitoh. Three years didn't change him the slightest. Saitoh still wore an egoistically smirk while he's cat-like eyes taunted Kenshin's own, which at the moment were glowing a soft amber. `You,' Kenshin thought, `you're the source of my problems! If it weren't for you Kaoru would be here at my side. You're the reason she's dead!'

"Why are you here? I'm not going to ask you again."

"Still got that temper, don't you Battousai?" Saitoh smirked at the sight of Kenshin losing his cool.

"Stop wasting my time and get to the point!" He snapped while his hand moved naturally to where his sword would be.

Saitoh reached into the pocket of his uniform and retrieved an envelope and a sack. "I'm here on behalf of the government. I've been sent here because your help is needed once more." His voice still held its mocking tone but Saitoh was holding something back, an ace up his sleeve that he would play after he saw Kenshin's initial reaction.

Kenshin scoffed and then turned to walk away. `The nerve of this asshole! Does he expect me to jump at the chance to help the government? If it weren't for the last time needed my help on some bogus mission Kaoru would still be alive and my life wouldn't be a living hell! I don't owe the government anything. If they need help then they can find it somewhere else.' Kenshin's cold voice pierced the night air, "I'll have to decline your offer. The government will just have to find someone else to run their errands" and with that said Kenshin began to walk away.

Saitoh's eyes danced with amusement. This was exactly the reaction he had expected; now it was time to pull out his ace. He turned around and started a countdown in his head. "All right Battousai, but of all people I would have thought you would have jumped at the chance to bring the Jigoku Hi Clan to their knees," Kenshin stopped walking and Saitoh's smirk only grew, "after all they're the group that's responsible for Kamiya's death. I just thought that maybe you would have liked to get revenge, but I guess I was wrong." He walked away while he counted down in his head, `3…2…1.'

"Wait!" Kenshin's voice was angry. He hated the fact that Saitoh was playing him so easily but if what Saitoh said was true, if he could get revenge on the men who took Kaoru's life, then he could bear to let Saitoh have the upper hand. "What about the Jigoku Hi Clan? I thought they broke apart after the attack on the inn."

"So did we but apparently they were just laying low for the time being so they could gather their forces and begin to collect black-market weapons from the west." Saitoh knew that Kenshin would take the mission now that he knew that he would have a chance to avenge Kaoru's death. "Recently they've been causing quite a stir. They've been kidnapping young girls and selling them to brothels or anyone who really wants them not to mention the large amounts of opium they've been producing lately. Both are giving the clan large quantities of money which they've been using to stock up on weapons smuggled from the west. Gattling guns, rifles, colt revolvers; it would seem they're preparing to launch a war against Japan which is why we're going to stop them before that happens."

"We're? Who else is planning on tagging along?"

"I'll be helping but only up to a certain point. Once I get you where you need to go I'll be working on my own…"

"That's the first good news I've gotten today." Kenshin's eyes were still a soft amber however more lavender could be seen.

Saitoh ignored the comment and continued speaking as if Kenshin had never opened his mouth, "Also, that idiot Sagara and his wife will be coming I've already spoken to them earlier in this evening when they were on their way home and I assumed that the boy, Myojin, would be coming along."

"Will that be all or is the rest of Tokyo coming?"

"Actually there's a little more. Seijuro Hiko will be meeting us in Yamagata along with a woman named Haruka and her apprentice."

"Why is Hiko helping? I thought he wanted to live his life as a hermit."

"I don't know the reason but I presume that his presence has something to do with Haruka," Saitoh pulled out a cigarette.

"Who is this Haruka women? Why is she accompanying us?" Kenshin's eyes were beginning to lose their amber tinting.

"I don't know much about her except that she's incredibly powerful and dangerous. She's the 11th master of an ancient style of fighting called Youkai Katsu Ryuu. It's a style that combines many techniques from other martial arts and the control of ki to destroy your enemy quickly and completely. I've heard that she's finished training her apprentice but I don't know anything more about Haruka or her pupil." Saitoh threw the sack and envelope that he had taken from his uniform earlier and threw them in front of Kenshin. "Inside the envelope is a letter that says exactly what I've just told you and in the sack is enough money to get you and your friends from here to Yamagata." Saitoh threw the cigarette butt on the ground, stepping on it as he made his way out the dojo. "I expect to see you in Yamagata in two weeks, don't be late."

"Saitoh!"

Saitoh was slightly surprised to hear the Battousai's low, threatening growl, but he turned around none the less to see that it was indeed the Battousai that had spoken to him instead of Kenshin.

Battousai stood still while the wind played with his flaming hair; his eyes were a frightening amber that glowed with anger directed at Saitoh. Thoughts of anger and revenge swirled in his mind creating a boiling, vicious, malignant bubbling stew of hatred. Then he spoke in a voice that neither threatened nor warned, only promised. "If anything happens to anyone I care about again, if anyone of my friends are harmed then I slit your belly and piss on your grave." He retrieved the sack of money and the envelope, "you have my word." Battousai gave Saitoh one last look of hatred before retreating to the dojo.

Author's notes: Sorry again for the lack of updates and the real short chapter. I took so long to update because I've been really busy but I finally got some extra time to write a short chapter. This chapter is only short because the next one in going to be really long and I didn't want to combine the two. Thanks for reading.