Last Shreds: Part One
A Disturbing Dream
A Rurouni Kenshin fan fiction
by Dr. Panda
revised (and hopefully final) draft 3/23/99
C&C WELCOME!!

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All non-original characters are copyrighted property of Nobuhiro Watsuki.
The copyright to this fanfic, its name, and all original characters is owned by Dr. Panda
For posting rights, please e-mail me
This work may not be posted without my permission
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**Please note that this fanfic is supposed to occur during the manga. All I can tell you for the moment is that it is pre-Revenge, though there will some extremely ambiguous Revenge arc spoilers. The main story, however, has absolutely NOTHING to do with Jinchu (the Revenge arc). Please keep that in mind as you read. If you see something you don't understand because it refers to something you are not familiar with, ignore it. I will either explain it later, or it is unimportant. What you MUST know before you read this is that the conclusion, coming in part 3 or 4, depending, will be a fairly major Kyoto spoiler if you don't know what "baka-deshi" refers to.

Enjoy the fic!

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His footsteps rang on the stone path. Once he had been taught to hide the sounds of his passing from the casual listener. Now it was too late to try and too late to care. All he wanted to do was get away. He had to. He needed to get away from the Hell he had left just behind him in that house.

He couldn't hear the screaming any more. They were dead. They were all dead. "They"? Who were "they"? It seemed like something that he should remember. Faces and names floated to the surface of his thoughts, but were blown away by what he saw in front of him.

The Gate! He was at the Gate! He wasn't too late! He was in time! He could save her! Fear and anticipation surged through him as he increased his speed, his bleeding feet carrying closer and closer.

A shadow lay next to the Gate. Yes, he recognized him. It was the man who had come that day...what was he doing there? How had he gotten here before him?! He stopped before the cloaked figure, fear mounting with every second.

The man smiled a cold smile. A happy smile. A dead smile. His lips parted and his amber eyes flashed.

"You _are_ too late, she is dead...and so are you."

...

Even as he felt the sword penetrate his ribs, what he saw beyond the Gate made him forget the pain as another, greater pain tore through him. As he fell, he screamed, a wordless scream, and as blackness began to override his sight, his eyes fixed upon the face of the cloaked man...

"Hey, Kenshin! Wake up!"

"Oro?" Kenshin started up. Sanosuke was standing next to his bed, shaking him...wearing an apron and a ribbon? He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Yeah, it was a ribbon. A purple ribbon at that. He punched himself in the head, and the vision went away. Kenshin sighed in relief.

"It's about time you're up," Sano scolded, "It's past noon and Jou-chan was ready to chew the fence because you just didn't want to get up". Sano smirked.

"She nearly pitched a fit when she found out that you weren't already up drawing her bath. She was torn between tearing into your room and waking you up with a shinai, and calling a doctor to save you. She actually ran all the way to Dr. Genzai's and tried to drag him all the way back, except the vixen was there watching." He chuckled under his breath.

Kenshin yawned. In a way, he was touched by Kaoru-dono's over-concern, but she really could get so worried about nothing. So what if he had slept in past...

"Noon?!" He leapt off of his futon like a firecracker, so fast that Sano, startled, fell over backgrounds right into the wall. Which was made of paper. Which just happened to also be in front of the well. A well which just happened to be open. Sano pulled himself out, sputtered, and stopped, staring.

Kenshin had turned into a whirlwind of cloth and fabric as he tried to put all of his clothes on at the same time. He would have been more successful if he hadn't by accident put both arms through the same sleeve. Undaunted, he strapped his sandals on backwards, tied his sakabatou around one leg and ran out the door. Or at least he tried.

"What's the rush?" Sano asked him as he helped the great assassin put his clothes back on properly. "You didn't forget some date with Kaoru, did you? Or with Megumi? Is there some laundry basket in distress? Well?!" Kenshin didn't answer. As he ran out the door, Sano closed it...in his face.

"Will you tell me what the Hell is goin' on, already?! You're not goin' anywhere until you tell me!" Kenshin, frantic, tried to move around him.

"Sumimasen, Sano," he pleaded, "but Kaoru-dono told me yesterday that I had to go shopping for dinner de gozaru!" He tried to push past him to the door, but Sano grabbed him by the collar and pulled out a gold watch that he had appropriated somewhere.

"Look," he said, pointing to it, "it's only one o'clock. You have plenty of time." He released Kenshin. "It won't kill you to loosen up a bit."

"But Sano," Kenshin protested, "If I don't get the shopping done, Kaoru-dono will kill both of us de gozaru yo!" He finally pushed past Sano and was down the corridor like an arrow. "It's not like you're too late or anything!" Sano called after him. Memory clicked, and Kenshin stopped suddenly.

"Nani? What did you say, Sano?" Sano, surprised, only looked at Kenshin. Kenshin didn't move, but probed his friend with his eyes. "Kenshin?" It seemed that all of a sudden, the hyperactive shopping maniac had turned into a trapped animal. A pale, fearful trapped animal. Then it was gone, and only Kenshin was left.

"Nothing, it's nothing." He smiled.

"Are you sure you're okay? If you really want, I'll...ah, I'll convince Yahiko to do the shopping." Sano shrugged, tense.

(It's not like you're too late.)

"No, I'm fine," Kenshin assured him. "Don't worry."

As Kenshin walked out the front gate of the Kamiya Dojo, he thought over what Sano had said.

(It's not like you're too late...you're too late...too late...)

The words seemed to echo in his head. He couldn't remember why. It was a fleeting memory. Something that he should know and watch out for. He shivered...and bumped into a onigiri wagon. Kenshin rubbed his shins, apologized and went on his way, when all of a sudden...

(Wait a minute! Where is everyone? The streets are empty; they should be packed! It's past noon...or is it?)

"Excuse," Kenshin stopped a merchant. "Could you please tell me what time it is?" The merchant looked at a golden pocket-watch that he had appropriated somewhere.

"It's eight in the morning," he said, tossing the red-haired swordsman a strange look.

"Thank you," replied Kenshin. The merchant walked on about his business.

(Sano...it was a good joke...but I'm going to get you for this.)

It was well into the afternoon by the time that Kenshin noticed him. He hadn't known before, but he was certain now. He was being followed. He hadn't mananged to get a glimpse of his pursuer, but he sure that he was being followed...by...one person. Whoever he was, he was good, Kenshin decided, no matter how many times Kenshin had cast furtive glances behind him, his pursuer had remained just out of sight. He began to feel nervous. This wasn't just some ordinary spy.

(Gotta shake this guy)

Kenshin and his unwanted shadow eventually came to an intersection in the street. By now, the press of people going in both directions was so large that at the intersection, the waves of humanity collided and transformed into a thundering stampede of people. In their midst, Kenshin spotted two massive wagons of similar size heading down different streets. Another moment and their paths would cross in the middle of the intersection.

(Perfect)

As Kenshin walked towards the two wagons, he slowly turned his course to the left, then as the wagon that had been heading towards him passed him by behind him, he made his move...backwards. Right between the two wagons. From the point of view of the people who had originally been behind him (including his pursuer) he had turned and begun walking, only to somehow be overtaken by the wagon behind him...and disappeared. The wagons kept rolling, and ...no rurouni.

From his perch underneath the second wagon, where he hung from the inside wheel axels, Kenshin smiled. An old trick, and an easy one at that. He waited two miles, until the wagon came to a slow upwards incline, then he let go, rolling backwards over his shoulders and hands and coming to his feet in one smooth motion. He turned to make sure that he was no longer being followed...and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. His shadow had followed him. Not hiding or sneaking, but just standing there, a mere five feet away, as if he had been waiting for Kenshin.

He was Kenshin's size, dressed in a light purple gi of a style similar to Kenshin's and wore white pants. Covering his shoulders was a simple, black cloak, clasped at the throat with a metal brooch, his head covered by a hood. Though the hood hid most of his features, the former assassin thought he saw the hint of a smile beneath that hood. His bandaged right hand stroked a sword-hilt, half-visible under his cloak. His other traced a non-existent cross-scar over his left cheek, the only truly visible part of face. Kenshin froze, a wave of cold streaming down his spine, his left hand tightening around the sakabatou's sheath. The other almost looked familiar, but Kenshin couldn't place him.

For a small second that seemed to stretch into hours, neither one of them moved. The muscles in Kenshin's arms and legs, tensed, ready to go for his sakabatou in an instant, but he dared not make the first move, fearful it would give away his intent.

(Neither of us is in battle-stance, but we feel the power all the same. That cloak will hinder him, but it also denies me a definite target since I can't see his body. I know nothing of his speed. The moment one of us moves, it's over. One way or the other. If I move, he'll counter immediately. For that same reason, he will not attack me.)

The combatants stood there, there eyes locked, poised to react at a moment's weakness on the other side, daring the other to move first. Nothing moved. Kenshin realized in that instant that the only thing that could give him victory was a battojutsu. But the battojustu wasn't perfect, it could be defeated. Just as Jinneh nearly had defeated it. All it needed was for the other man to second-guess him. And his opponent already knew who he was.

The other man moved. Kenshin didn't. His opponent stepped back, he posture seemingly relaxed. Kenshin didn't move. The cloaked man raised his right arm in a mocking salute, then turned and walked away down the street.

Kenshin stared after him and let out a sigh of relief.

As he returned to the part of town where the dojo was located, Kenshin decided it would be better not to tell the others what had happened to him. Better not to let them worry. He wouldn't let any of them get involved if at all possible. It was his problem, he sourly reminded himself.

He didn't know why, but for a moment, during the stand-off, Kenshin had felt a fluttering feeeling, a feeling as alien to him as sewing was to Sanosuke. Fear. It rattled him. He had never felt fear before...had he? The last time, if ever, had been before he left his master to join the war. He grimaced. A fine time to be thinking about such terrible experiences. Living with his shishou for a few years could get to anybody. He sighed, wishing he knew-

"Kenshin! It's about time that you got back!"

"Oh, Kaoru-dono, I was-"

"I don't care! You should have left a note! I was so worried! And your clothes are all dirty, what happened-" Kenshin tuned out, reflecting briefly that there was no one who could make so much out of nothing like Kaoru. He grinned. He wouldn't have it any other way.

-What are you smiling at?-

Even after three months, he was amazed at how things had turned out, the people he had met.

-Kenshin, are you listening to me?!-

Sanosuke, Yahiko, Megumi and Kaoru. Especially Kaoru. All of them with painful memories linked to the war between the Bakufu and the followers of Sonno Joi.

-Kenshin?-

A war that he had helped perpetuate.

-Kenshin, look at me!-

Incredible, wasn't it? The last survivors of two proud samurai families, the only living daughter of a family of great healers, and the last of the Sekihotai. Who would have thought it?

-Kenshin, please!-

No matter what happened, he wouldn't let them die from his mistakes...not again.

-Kenshin, if you don't say something, I'm going to hit you!-

Whatever the cost, he would protect them.

-What's wrong, Kaoru?-

-Kenshin won't listen to me!-

But protect them from what? Kenshin grimaced. Lately it seemed that he had to protect them from his own mistakes and enemies and problems that he had created.

-KENSHIN!! HEEEELLOOOOOO!!!-

Enemies...that was it! He remembered now where he'd seen the cloaked man. In _that_ dream...but who was he? Was it just a coincidence? Doubtful, considering the number of enemies he'd managed to make with just his name.

-...-

-Hand me that stick...-

The fake Battosai, the Oniwabanshu and their egotistical but deadly leader, Raijuta and his band, and of course, Jinneh.

-Okay, that didn't work...-

-I told you!-

-Well, okay, let's try something else!-

Jinneh. Being forced to fight him to the death to save Kaoru.

-Hmm, okay, that didn't work either-

-Throw water on him!-

Becoming Battousai again...

-We have to do something!-

-Hang on, I've got an idea!-

Whatever happened, even if he had to give his life, he would not let Battousai come back.

"Oro?" Kenshin was startled out of his reverie by the unlikely sight of Sanosuke and Yahiko parading before him. It wasn't just the fact that they were only wearing loin cloths, nor that they were wearing what resembled war paint on their faces. Nor that they were waving around dead tree branches. Or even the fact that they were singing (badly). It was a bit of everything, and it stopped him in his tracks faster than any wall he had previously run into.

...

...

...

"Excuse me, but, what are you doing de gozaruka?"

Silence.

"A cloaked man?" Sanosuke chewed his fish bone.

Kenshin nodded. If he told Kaoru, she wouldn't stop worrying. And if he told Yahiko, Kaoru might find out anyway. But Sanosuke at least would easily be able to keep her from knowing. Sanosuke hemmed and hawed for a few moments.

"Met him in a dream? I dunno, Kenshin! Are you sure that you aren't reading too much into this?"

"He knew who I was, Sano, and he was tailing me de gozaru."

"You don't even know who he really was. He might just be some hotshot survivor of the war who saw you once." Kenshin made a face.

"I really can't think of anyone who might have seen me who would try to provoke me for fun. Not even Saitoh."

"Maybe. I doubt that it's about revenge, though," Sanosuke maintained. "If this guy was serious about revenge, he would have done more than just faced you down for thirty seconds in the street. He would have left a note or said something, or..." He trailed off. Kenshin smiled grimly and finished his thought.

"...or attacked the dojo?"

Sanosuke tried to grin back and failed. He had never felt quite all that safe in the dojo since Saitoh got the drop on him, Kenshin thought.

"If that's his plan, we'll just have to be ready, wakarimashta?

Sanosuke nodded.

"Do we tell the others?"

"No," Kenshin shook his head vehemently. "Whoever this was, he was good. I could tell from his stance. If we let the others know, Yahiko will be all ready to go and fight, and so will Kaoru if we let her. Megumi will insist on coming along just in case we get hurt."

"We'd end up having to protect them, and that would hamper us."

Sanosuke looked unconvinced.

"But if this guy is actually out for blood, won't he go after the unprotected dojo?" Kenshin shook his head.

"The dojo will be protected." Sanosuke looked confused, and then glanced around, looking for this magic protection. He looked at Kenshin, who was smiling. A lot.

"Now hang on just a second..." Sanosuke croaked in a strangled voice.

Kenshin kept smiling.

"You can't be serious!"

The next afternoon, after haphazardly determining that Kaoru and Yahiko would stay inside the dojo (not to mention keeping a much put-out and martyred Sanosuke inside himself), Kenshin walked the streets of Tokyo. Thus far everything seemed going all right. The sun was shining and there was no one near the dojo who was not supposed to be.

Maybe Sanosuke had been right. Maybe he was just overreacting. It was probably just that he'd been so long on his guard against hidden foes that he couldn't relax. He should probably just go back to the dojo and...

He shook his head to clear it. It was NOT a coincidence. Most sane survivors of the Boshin war held the name of Hitokiri Battousai in fear. And the others, well, they were all the more dangerous. Those that knew how to recognize him. He had to be on his guard.

People haggled loudly as he walked into the market. Children played. A group of children playing with a ball bumped into him, laughing. Laughing back, he threw them the ball and watched them chase it.

He loved it here. If he had the choice, he would stay here for the rest of his life. With Kaoru. It seemed more and more that he couldn't go without her. He shivered as he remembered the night with Jinneh. He himself had been frightened by his own reaction to Kaoru's kidnapping. It had been like all of a sudden, all of his reason, all of his accumulated rage and anger had exploded out of him in one go. He shuddered. He couldn't let it happen again...

He was crossing into an intersection on the far side of the market, when he felt it. A flash of hot and cold as he felt, sharply, an unfriendly gaze. A shadow fell behind him. Kenshin whipped around, dimly realizing that the market was gone. Before him stood his opponent, dressed as before.

"Who are you?" Kenshin demanded.

The cloaked man began to chuckle, but did not put his hand on his sword. Just as Kenshin belatedly began to realize that chuckles do not echo, and what was more, the man was too tall, the other cloaked men stepped out from the surrounding houses towards him. Kenshin froze in shock.

There were six of them, all different shapes and sizes. But all of them wore the purple gi and black pants of the first. They all wore black hoods. None of them spoke, and their chuckling became all the more sinister.

"I ask again, who are you, and what do you want of me?" None of them answered. Kenshin began to back away, towards the center of the circle. The men ringed him in.

"I don't want to hurt any of you. I would back away now." The men ignored his words. If anything, their chuckles became uglier, like men laughing over a deadly insult that really wasn't funny at all.

Kenshin watched them warily. None of them was the man he had seen the day before, but they all moved with the assurance of masters of the sword. "Masters" of the sword. And what was he then? He might have smiled if he hadn't had a sinking feeling in his stomach. A master might be a worthier opponent than a novice, but they were much more difficult to take down with merely a tap on the head. And then there were those who were more than just "masters". Like him.

Whoever they were, he couldn't let them make the first move. Or rather he could. He waited, unmoving. The cloaked men stopped in their advance, their katanas out and in ready position, the extended points only five feet from tearing into Kenshin's undefended flesh. For a full heartbeat, this tableau held. Only a heartbeat. Then they charged, their hoods flying back. Time slowed.

Four feet...

(Jigen. Police trained.)

Three feet...

(The police army?!)

Two feet...

(It doesn't matter.)

One foot...

(I can find out after I beat them into the ground!)

Hiten-Mitsurugi-Ryuu "Doh-Ryu-Sen"

The ground exploded, staggering the attackers...and Kenshin disappeared from view...until he reappeared just above their heads.

Hiten-Mitsurugi-Ryuu "Ryu-Tsui-Sen"

Like a lightning bolt thrown by a god, Kenshin fell among his adversaries, driving two of them to the ground with the force of the blow...plus the third he had struck on his way up.

(Three more)

Two of the last three attacked, silent save for the sound of their feet on the street.

Hiten-Mitsurugi-Ryuu "Ryu-Sou-Sen"

They both fell.

Kenshin turned his attention to the last of his attackers.

This one had not even moved since the initial attack. Kenshin frowned, then took another look.

(What the-)

This swordsman was slightly taller than Kenshin, and carried himself with a degree of assurance that far surpassed his companions. But it wasn't his height or his silence that gave Kenshin a pause. It was his sword. The blade was black.

Kenshin did not move or attack, despite his uneasiness. Or rather, because of it. He knew of only one swordsman who carried a black blade. He had fought him before...and it had nearly cost him his life.

(flashback)

The swordsman's black sword swung through the air towards the young assassin. Battousai readied his own blade to parry and counter...but the black katana disappeared into the night's air.

"Wha-" he barely got out before the sharp point dug into his side, ricocheting off his ribs. Pain burst through him and he dropped his sword, clutching the wound. His opponent, a tall young man with black-silver hair smiled cruelly and then raised his sword for the final blow.

"So this is the great Hitokiri Battousai," he sneered and laughed, "Oh, just before I kill you, my name is..."

(end flashback)

"Setsukage Masaru..." Kenshin whispered softly. The cloaked man smiled, but said nothing. The setting sun cast his shadow before him, and turned everything else fiery red...except for Setsukage. Now he was all black.

Kenshin readied himself.

Setsukage, slowly but fluidly, changed his stance, bringing his black katana out in front of him. Into his shadow. Where the blade disappeared. Kenshin began to sweat. Setsukage smiled again. Then he attacked.

Kenshin leapt out of the way, but his opponent had anticipated him. Kenshin was kicked in the side and into a wall, blood running down his leg, his enemy following up for the kill. Only Kenshin wasn't there.

"Ryu-Tsui-Sen!"

Setsukage sidestepped, and the blade missed him. But it still hit its target. The wall exploded into Setsukage's face. Just as Kenshin wanted. Quickly he tried to jump to the west side of his assailant, but fell as his wounded leg collasped on him.

(Even in the late afternoon he is deadly. At night he is death itself.)

Kenshin tried to stand but the wound in his leg burned like fire. He'd forgotten the acid-tipped sword that Setsukage had. While not strong enough to do more than cause pain, it caused enough that the more you were wounded the less you could keep your mind on the fight, as the burning sensations invaded into your brain. Setsukage charged again. Kenshin met him full force. Try as he might Kenshin was hampered by the fact that he couldn't see his opponent's sword until it was almost too late. He was able to block most of Setsukage's powerful slashes and lunges but several got through, slashing painfully across his arms and chest. Screams were nearly ripped out of him as explosions of pain rippled through his body at the acid's touch.

He quickly realized that it was futile to defend, and pushed all of his force into attacking. Setsukage might have been good, Kenshin admitted, but if he was forced to move his sword out of the shadows to guard, Kenshin had the advantage, even with his hurt leg. Unfortunately, without being able to use his more flamboyant techniques because of the leg wound, Kenshin wouldn't be able to win decisively. This would be a long battle.

Setsukage pulled back, giving ground, until he pulled out a second small sword, also black.

(a kodachi!)

Kenshin barely had time to register what had happened before Setsu tore into him.

Again and again Setsukage attacked Kenshin in silence. And again and again Kenshin just barely managed to prevent getting his head chopped off, but suffered greater and greater wounds.

(His technique is flawless; I can't beat him like this)

-Dodge; lunge misses by a hairsbreadth-

(In a straight fight, it would be no question, but for that damned sword!)

-Counter; blocked-

(As it is, I can't bring any of my counter techniques to bear properly unless I can see his weapon)

-brush of air; dodge stroke-

(I don't need to "see" it, I just need to know where it is!)

Kenshin closed his eyes, and let his other senses guide his actions. He felt Setsukage's shadow move back from his face. He heard the metallic ring of a kodachi being replaced in it's sheath. He heard a rasping sound of sandal on dirt and he knew almost intuitively what Setsukage would do next. He was right. A Gatotsu-style lunge for the heart. He moved instinctively...and Setsukage's stroke punctured the wall next to Kenshin's shoulder, carrying him through.

Ryu-Sho-Sen!

Blood swathed, Kenshin frowned, kicking away the broken black sword, as he looked at his fallen opponent, wondering what to do. Even with his sakabatou, he had inflicted a bad head and chest wound. Setsu would live, though he wouldn't be up and walking for a while.

He glanced around. No one. He could go get the police, but any one of them might regain consciousness in a moment, and he might lose his chance to question some of them. But he needed medical attention. And why Setsu? How could he even be alive?! Kenshin was sure that he'd finished him off!

Something was definitely not right. He had to know what this was about. And why the first man who found him hadn't been in on the attack. He should have been here unless...

Kenshin whirled. Only five men, the sixth was gone!

(the dojo!)

Kenshin limped as fast as he could, the muscles in his legs and chest protesting as his wounds burned. Desperately, he strove to reach the dojo in time. All of a sudden, the dream playing again in full in his head. He couldn't help but think of that final horrifying image of...

"No, not again," he moaned in torment as he ran, "I can't let it happen again! I mustn't!!"

Thoughts assailed him

-"You're too late", gloated the cloaked man-

-Tomoe falling to the ground, blood pouring from her back-

"No..." he whispered, "please, no..."

-Enishi's hate-filled gaze that day when the Ishinshishi had won-

-A tall, black-haired young man lying on the ground, dreadfully wounded, bleeding his life out-

"Stop it!!" he moaned, clenching his hands into fists.

-Setsukage's demonic grin as he raised his sword to strike again-

-Setsukage's ever-present smile as the shock of the blow knocked him off the wall into the burning swamp-

-Kaoru's smile...fading away-

"STOP IT!" he screamed. He screamed again and again...or was it just in his head?

Kenshin came to his senses standing in the middle of the road, one intersection away from the dojo. The sun was gone. He tasted blood in the back of his throat and could barely breathe. With the last spurt of his strength, he tore around the corner.

"Kaoru-dono!"

The gate was in flames. As he watched, he saw several cloaked figures dash inside. His rage exploded, fire burning his heart like the acid could never burn his skin. But it was his fire.

He smashed through the burning gate as if it wasn't there. No one in the courtyard. He could hear screams and shouts coming from the main dojo. As they rung in his ears, his wounds forgotten, he charged into the dojo, sword out. He froze.

Yahiko and Sanosuke lay unmoving on the ground. Their attackers, three of them, were at the back, doing something, holding something on the floor. Kenshin heard a scream. Then a slap.

It was like a knife in his soul.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!!"

The first two men to feel the wrath of Hiten-Mitsurugi-Ryuu barely had time to blink before the fury of the red-haired assassin broke through their thoughts. Their companion went for his katana in desperate contest. He didn't stand a chance. The Sword of the Soaring Heavens was invincible.

Heart full of anguish and trepidation, Kenshin dropped his sword and knelt down next to the woman who meant so much to him. His eyes darted over her moaning form. Letting out another groan of pain, Kaoru's eyes fluttered open.

"Kenshin!"

"Kaoru-dono, are you all right?" He clasped her in his arms.

"Ke-enshi-in..." she said haltingly. Sobbing, she fell into his arms.

He closed his eyes and held her. He held her gently, not wanting to hurt her. He listened to her sob, and thanked fate that he had managed to save her. Behind him, he heard groans as Yahiko and Sanosuke came to. He turned around, still holding Kaoru, and joyfully saw them pull themselves to their feet. He looked them both in the eye, telling them without words that it was alright. He also saw the expression of horror on Yahiko's face. Then the shadow fell over him.

"Kenshin!"

He heard the rasp of a knife being drawn. His sword was in his hand as if it had never left it. His heart was on fire. He saw red. He let go of Kaoru and whirled with all his strength, as the man who had gotten away from him in the street leapt at his unprotected back with a tanto.

There was a thud as the sakabatou smashed the man across the throat, accompanied by the sickening crunch of his neck breaking. Blood fountained.

Time stopped.

Kenshin felt his heart freeze in his chest.

The man fell.

His head hit the floor.

For Kenshin there was nothing else. It was as if everything else in the room had disappeared. Half on his feet, his sakabatou in hand, he stared, his face a mixture of shock and disbelief, at the crumpled form of the man lying on the floor of the dojo.

The man he had killed.

From far away, the cloaked man smiled. Not the quite the way he had intended...but it had started.

To be continued...

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The idea for Setsukage Masaru came from the samurai Shen Ker from Bastard!, only that Shen had a magic sword, so he didn't need acid. He was also a good guy. Pity what happened to him.

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