From: Krista Perry I'm posting this for a friend who is not on this list. All private comments and criticisms should be directed to: Bogue bogue@negia.net --------- All characters belong to Watsuki. This messes up continuity, but if you don'tknow about the Revenge Arc don't read this. Doppleganger They were not very well trained soldiers, but they did possess enough talent so as to suggest they weren't from the regular military. They surrounded the area around him, but came no further than where the trees stopped. They were smart enough to not get in too close, but then he thought they weren't smart enough to stay at home. Judging from how many men were around him, Kenshin felt that it wouldn't take more than fifteen seconds to get rid of them. Drawing his blade Kenshin made a slash in the snow. "To come here is surely suicide. I shall grant your wish of death," he said while narrowing his yellow eyes. He almost smiled as he felt a wave of fear ripple through the soldiers. The smile dissappeared when he heard the light rustling of clothes that was almost right behind him. "Fu, fu. Battousai, the only one to grant such wishes is me." Turning around Kenshin could not believe what he saw, but knew that it was not an illusion. Standing in front of him was a man dressed in a shroud and Chinese clothes who was at the moment pushing the frame of his glasses up his nose. What shocked Kenshin was the hair of the man. It was just as white as it was the day they had last met. All the while Kenshin stared at him he smiled and gently pulled out a sword from the satchel held over his shoulder. "Yukishiro Ennishi. I thought that you had died," Kenshin said as he glared at the white haired man. "Just because you leave someone for dead doesn't mean that they are, Battousai," Ennishi said while twirling his blade. Placing his own blade back into its scabbard Kenshin said,"If I had known you would come back like this I would have invested more time trying to kill you." "Like you did my sister?" Ennishi said this time his smile replaced with a look of unabashed hatred. Kenshin smiled and said,"Your sister betrayed me to the Yaminobu. I had to kill her for that." Ennishi looked at Kenshin and said,"The time of your reckoning is here Battousai. The greatest killer in all Japan who slew every swordsman who crossed his way. After ten years of sensely murdering through this world you decided to live here, but your sword is still sharp enough to kill any fool who approaches you. That is until now." "Enough with these histrionics. Have you come to fight or talk?" Kenshin said cooly. Ennishi smiled and threw off his cloak and shirt,"Then let's go." Kenshin pulled his katana from his scabbard at near lightning speed and was met with...air. Jumping back Kenshin barely avoided the sword strike from the crouching man. Kenshin tried to strike Ennishi on the head, but was met by the latter's blade. Twisting his left foot Ennishi made a powerful kick to his blade knocking Kenshin into the air. Kenshin hurtled through the air, but managed to twist himself so as to land feet first in the snow. Throwing himself back at Ennishi Kenshin charged with a crescent stroke aimed at disembowling the younger man. Ennishi managed to dodge the blow, but not the second one which created a bloody streak against his chest. Jumping back from Kenshin, Ennishi grabbed the end of his blade with his left hand while keeping a tenuous grip on the handle with his right. Pulling the blade into a near semi-circle Ennishi let go sending the katana into Kenshin's thigh. Kenshin took a small leap backwards and gazed into the eyes of his opponent. "How ironic to send a murderer to bring justice." Kenshin said. Ennishi raised an eyebrow and said,"Oh, you can tell all that from just looking into my eyes? You are good, Battousai. "You're better than I thought, but now it's time for me to get serious, Ennishi." "You took the words right out of my mouth," Ennishi said and his face and body became covered tree like vines. Kenshin took a step back at what he saw and said,"What are those?" "Nerves of Insanity," a voice from behind Kenshin said. Blinking, Kenshin noticed that Ennishi was no longer standing in front of him. The cold breath seemed to pour down Kenshin's back and he could almost feel the grin coming across Ennishi's face. "I gained this ability because of you Battousai. If you hadn't killed my sister I would never have been able to gain this power, but as you said we shouldn't waste so much time talking when we have swords to do that for us." A slash was all Kenshin heard. A flicker of light was all that he heard. And soon death would become all that he knew. The blood came bursting out of his stomach onto the snowy ground. Kenshin looked down as the pristine landscape became tainted with his blood. His sword dropped to the sword as he fell down to his hands and knees. He could hear Ennishi lowering himself to look into his eyes and if Kenshin had the strength he would have returned the look. Besides Kenshin's gagging on his own blood there was no sound at all. Finding some hiden reserve of strength Kenshin pulled his head up to look into the eyes of Yukishiro Ennishi and was surprised. They held none of the malice that he had seen during their fight and the nerves had all disappeared from his face. Now all that was left was a look of cuirousity. "You knew," Ennishi said quietly. Kenshin coughed up some blood and said,"Knew what?" "You knew she didn't betray you." Looking into his eyes Kenshin said,"Yes. After I killed her... I found out." "The murders, the mayhem... None of it was because she betrayed you. Why?" Kenshin felt his intestines oozing out as he said,"Because it is... easier to live as a monster who kills for no reason... than to live as a man who kills recklessly." The last words punctuated by a huge gob of blood spilling out of his mouth and his face falling into the snow. Ennishi looked at the newly made corpse and stood up. Walking away from the scene he could hear the soldiers jumping onto the corpse stabbing at it with their swords each trying to make a claim as the killer of the Hitokiri Battousai. Ennishi saw the police officer who had organized the whole meeting standing at the forest's outer edge. He held a suitcase in his hand which he put forward when Ennishi walked up to him. "Here is the bounty for taking care of this matter," the balding man said. Looking at the suitcase Ennishi said,"That won't be necessary." The officer seemed noticeably relieved at that and said,"I'm glad you said that. The last thing our government can do is pay off a huge bounty on a killer's head." Hearing the commotion he said,"Those mercenaries however will all want the reward though." "It's your own fault for not trusting my abilities." The officer seemed to boil over, but refrained from saying anything harsh to the young swordsman. "At least this signals the death of a monster." Throwing his sunglasses off, Ennishi said,"If it were only that simple." --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- GRAB THE GATOR! FREE SOFTWARE DOES ALL THE TYPING FOR YOU! Tired of filling out forms and remembering passwords? Gator fills in forms and passwords with just one click! Comes with $50 in free coupons! Click Here ------------------------------------------------------------------------