Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. Nobuhiro Watsuki and several others do. I?m just borrowing them for a little while to play with in a story that I will never make any money from. By the way I?m broke so please (please) don?t sue me. Info: In case I forgot to mention * the words in between * = someone?s thoughts. A KILLING MOVE By COLLEEN _ Chapter 2a _ Despite the late night Kenshin still managed to be the first one up the next morning. He started to prepare breakfast, the daily chore now so familiar that his body no longer needed the full attention of his brain to perform it. Freed from physical distractions his mind instead became lost in the memory of a night from over a decade ago. ?Ohayou Kenshin.? Kenshin jumped at Yahiko?s voice and turned to see the young samurai peering at him with a surprised look on his face. ?Ohayou gozaimasu Yahiko, I am surprised to see you up so early, that I am.? Kenshin managed to smile and frown at the same time at Yahiko?s stunned look. ?Yahiko are you all right?? ?Yah sure, of course I am Kenshin? Yahiko replied. Yahiko mentally shook off his concern. *I must be imagining things* he thought. There was just no way he could have ever come up behind Kenshin without him knowing it. ?How long until breakfast?? He asked. ?A few more minutes, that it is.? ?Good.? Yahiko, worried despite the assurances he had just given himself, fidgeted behind Kenshin for a few more moments before leaving. Kenshin breathed out his relief when the boy departed without voicing the concern he had seen lurking in his eyes. The former Battousai?s thoughts returned to the past. // /The moon half full casts a mantle of blue light over the road to Kyoto. The Hitokiri Battousai stops on that road as he feels the presence of one, possibly two, people nearby. The first barely a blip on Kenshin?s radar. The other stronger, closer and much more dangerous. A man, by the feel of it, walking towards him. His physical presence still hidden by the curve of the road ahead. / /Ignoring the first presence Himura Battousai grasped the sheath of his sword in his left hand; positioning it to draw against the oncoming man should the need arise. Face and eyes shadowed by his hair he walked towards the traveller who rounded the corner and upon seeing Kenshin stopped dead. The man, a samurai, was obviously taken aback but his surprise appeared due to the presence of someone else on the road at that time of night rather than by anything else. Kenshin?s eyes, still hidden from the man in front of him, narrowed as he noticed that the tall, dark haired man before him wore the blue and white of the Shinsengumi. / /The man nodded to the stranger in front of him and continued walking along the road. As they came abreast of each other the dark-haired samurai paused for a closer look at the stranger beside him. The Shinsengumi member gasped. Recognizing the man by his red hair and the cross-shaped scar on his left cheek he yelled ?Hitokiri? and leapt back for the space to draw his sword. / /The Battousai, looking at him with eyes far colder than the moon?s light said ?if you stop now you will not be harmed, continue and your death will be assured.?/ /The Shinsengumi member gave an incoherent yell and drew his sword, charging the Battousai. Himura easily stepped out of his way. The man found himself back peddling frantically to avoid crashing into a tree that seemed to materialized in front of him as quickly as the Hitokiri had dematerialized. Twisting to avoid an attack at his unprotected back he turned in time to see the manslayer drawing from a battou-jutsu stance. It really was just dumb luck that he managed to avoid the strike. As he was already off balance he more or less fell out of the way rather than consciously dodged the attack. / /The Battousai came close to swearing as his swing missed. Instead of taking down the samurai he?d sliced through the rather large tree that the Shinsengumi officer had just avoided running into moments before. The tree started to topple but as it was heading in the opposite direction he ignored it and turned back to the fight at hand. / /The samurai scrambled off the ground, panting, as he looked at the Hitokiri with hatred in his eyes. Screaming his anger he rushed the assassin. Kenshin met his attack, avoiding the first man?s swing by sliding in under the strike. Himura?s corresponding move came in lower and moved upwards, severing the other man in half from his right hip to his left shoulder. The two pieces fell to the ground with a sickening splat and a patter of blood. The Hitokiri Battousai flicked the gore from his sword before sheathing it and continued his interrupted journey to Kyoto./ ?Orooo.? Kenshin?s mind snapped back to the present, welcomed by the smell of burning rice. ***** Later in the day, while Yahiko and Kaoru were busy with Kendo lessons, Kenshin took the opportunity to check out the area where he had spoken to his late night visitor. The confused rurouni found himself walking around and around the tree his bizarre guest had been hiding under the night before. Not really sure what he was looking for he tested everything. He investigated the soft (and until he had stepped there) foot print free earth around the tree. He tapped, pushed, and ran his hands over the tree trunk. He studied each and every branch looking for answers to questions he didn?t even know how to ask. Kenshin sighed (it was becoming a habit) as he grew more and more perplexed. ?Did you lose something?? A voice behind him asked. Kenshin spun around to find the woman from the night before hanging upside down from the branch above him. ?My sanity I suspect? Kenshin replied dryly. ?It?s easy to misplace? she agreed. Kenshin felt the beginnings of another tension headache start in his temples and rubbed at his head. ?I?ve decided not to hate you? she told him. ?I was only ever a little angry with you and I?m not able to stay that way. Not after looking into your eyes.? ?Demo...you told me I was responsible for your death, that you did.? Kenshin said, those same eyes reflecting equal parts disbelief of her claim and guilt over the possibility that it was true. ?You didn?t kill me a falling tree killed me? she said looking embarrassed (or as embarrassed as you can look while hanging upside down). ?Actually if I had had the sense to keep going in the other direction instead of stopping to watch the fight I would still be alive today. Besides you didn?t really know I was there, did you?? She tilted her head as if to get a better look into Kenshin?s eyes. Pierced by her gaze Kenshin felt a drag on his entire being. His head pounded and old disjointed memories played through his mind. He mentally yanked away from her influence before she could manage to reach into the parts of himself that even he didn?t want to visit. With his mind in a whirl and panting slightly with the effort it took to pull away Kenshin ?s logical side broke down. He momentarily found himself believing every impossible thing about this woman. With this belief the guilt that lived in his mind clawed it?s way into supremacy. The pain threatened to crush him completely as the despair echoed in his head and leaked out through his eyes. The Sea Green Lady?s eyes widened. ?Damn? she whispered. ?I never should have told you any of this.? Kenshin tentatively reached out a hand toward the young woman. His need to find her solid and breathing outweighing his fear that she wasn?t. ?Kenshin?? Kenshin turned ?oro?? ?What are you doing in that tree?? Kaoru called. Kenshin opened his mouth to answer her. Unable to come up with anything he turned back to the Sea Green Lady to find the branch she had been hanging from empty. ************************************************************************ _ Chapter 2b _ After dinner that night Kenshin sat out on the dojo?s porch. He stared out at the yard, contemplating the darkness as it crawled up the dojo?s walls. The absence of light dripped down to pool in the garden?s corners prior to its long creep across the ground as the night closed in. He felt Sano?s arrival at the gate to the dojo before he even saw him. ?Oi Kenshin? Sano called out to him as he stepped into the yard. He made his way over to where the rurouni was sitting. Kenshin gave a smile and a nod to the tall, spiky haired former brawler but said nothing and continued his vigil. Sano plopped down beside the red-haired samurai and looked out into the courtyard. Squinting, he tried to find what Kenshin found so interesting in the gathering gloom. They stayed that way for some time. Kenshin remained lost in his thoughts and Sano split his attentions between the dojo?s garden and his friend sitting beside him. The younger man finally cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak when Kenshin said ?Kaoru dono asked you to talk to me, that she did.? Sano sighed with equal parts relief and frustration. He nodded saying ?yes. She?s worried that something?s bothering you.? Sano looked at his friend with concern ?after seeing you this evening I?d have to say she?s probably right about that. Kenshin, what?s got you so spooked?? Kenshin let out a small laugh and looked up to see a slightly indignant Sanosuke looking back at him. ?Gomen Sano? Kenshin apologized. ? It is just that your choice of words was rather appropriate, that it was.? Sano looked slightly mollified and waited for his friend to speak further. ?Sano?? Kenshin asked ?have you ever seen a ghost?? Sano swallowed hard as the unexpected question hit closer to home than the rurouni could have imagined. ?That?s a strange question Kenshin? Sano said ?why do you ask?? ?Never mind? Kenshin said, a small sad smile playing around his lips. ?Yes? Sano blurted out. ?Yes I have seen a ghost.? Kenshin looked up at him, his expression one of dumbfounded amazement. ?When?? He whispered. ?When I was following you to Kyoto. Sano smiled ruefully. I... well I got a little lost? Sano explained. ?Which is when I met Yuukyuuzan Anji the monk who taught me the Futae no Kiwami.? Sano looked at the rurouni to see that he had his undivided attention. ?I had seven days to learn the technique. If I failed the fallen monk was going to kill me.? Sano?s eyes glazed over as they looked in on the memory shutting out the sights of the present. ?On the last night with my strength all but lost and the possibility of my death with the rising sun I looked up to find Captain Sagara standing there.? ?He told me that if I admitted my defeat to Anji the former monk wouldn?t kill me. He also told me that I should rest.? Sano smiled, managing to look both sad and mischievous at the same time. ?I told him it was against my nature. I just would not, could not quit until I learned the technique or was dead. Sano hesitated for a second. I also... told him that I was happy to see him again.? ?Sano? Kenshin said. ?I hate to ...? ?I know what you?re going to say? Sano interrupted. ?It could well have been my imagination.? Kenshin nodded. ?However there are two things make me believe otherwise.? Kenshin?s look at Sano begged him to elaborate. Sano smiled again, only this time all that came through was the sadness. ?The first thing was that Captain Sagara had no feet.? Kenshin?s eyebrows arched, disappearing into his hairline. ?The second thing? Sano continued, his voice starting to rasp ?occurred the next morning when I was going to leave. I asked Anji where I was. He told me that I was in Shimosuwa, which is where Captain Sagara and the Sekihoutai were ambushed and killed.? Sano finished speaking and cleared the lump from his throat. He looked over at Kenshin who was bent over at the waist staring down at his feet as if seeking the answers to the universe there. Sano opened his mouth to speak again. To ask his friend why he had wanted to know if he?d ever seen a ghost. Kenshin looked up into Sano?s eyes and said ?Sanosuke thank you for sharing that with me. I know how painful it must have been to tell me this.? A small sad smile flitted across his face. ?Once I?ve figured out a few things I?ll tell you why I ask, that I shall.? Sano felt his mouth go dry at the look of utter despair that rode in Kenshin?s eyes. Suddenly unable to speak he found that all he could do was nod to his friend?s request. _ End Chapter 2 _ Note: I suspect that the Shinsengumi member that Kenshin came up against could have recognized him by his red hair and a scar on his left cheek (reports about Kenshin at the time would probably only have described one scar). However, I felt that the officer would still have recognized him (red hair would be very unusual) even with the crossed scar and I did want to describe the scar as such as to properly place the time line. ------------------------------------------------------------------------