Soujiro looked behind him, keeping his strides at a pace. He could not see them, and yet he could feel their presence amidst the people around them. He reached the end of the village, choosing not to look behind him. He went farther and farther, reaching a dark forest, quiet and dark. Light was coming only from the village he had been into. He went deeper into the forest quietly, his footsteps rustling with the knee-heighted grasses, until he could no longer feel their presence. The moon was nowhere visible through the thick cluster of trees, big and small. Finally, Soujiro looked behind him. Blinking in the dark, not only he could no longer sense them but he could no longer see them and it was not just because of the darkness. He stopped in his strides, darkness as his only company. Wind blew in his direction; it could have been the same wind that brought him in the village. He stood looking in the darkness for a while. Just as when he has chosen to move on with his journey, he felt something different – a formidable aura.

From an unknown direction, a crescent blade swept in his direction. He managed to dodge it in time – for him, the speed was far too easy to predict. The blade flew like a boomerang, which went back into the direction of its owner. Soujiro looked behind him. As dark as it was, he could see a figure standing on a large tree branch. It looked as if the figure has been keenly watching him ever since he has arrived in the forest.

The dark figure stood at the spot, holding the crescent blade. He was shrouded in black clothing, which buried every inch of him, including his mouth. Only visible were his eyes, which Soujiro saw gleaming from afar. It was like a cat watching a prey. He, Soujiro, was the prey. But Soujiro, however underhanded he was at the moment without any weapon, was unmoved by his attacker’s formibadle appearance.

His first question was what the attacker has exactly predicted.

“Who are you?”

The attacker smiled through the darkness, as if to intimidate him. The attacker did not reply. Soujiro smiled back at him, intimidating him back.

“Fine,” Soujiro voiced out through the darkness. “If you will not identify yourself, then what do you want?”

The attacker, silent, moved his weaponless arm and pointed it at Soujiro’s direction.

“Oh!” Soujiro chuckled, as if being taunted by a joke. “You want my life? But may I know why?”

Before his attacker could reply, Soujiro felt another swift movement this time from behind – this time, a swing of a sword. Faster than a blink of an eye, he managed to get behind his new attacker.

“I suppose you want my life too?” he asked the hooded figure from behind.

‘If he had a sword he could have killed you before you could even realize you’re dead, Shibuyen,’ Michiko thought, watching from her spot with her crescent blade waiting to fly. ‘He is no ordinary swordsman. Having taught by none other but Shishio Makoto himself, this young man is one of the most dangerous warriors there are in Japan today – absolutely unbeatable. Battousai the Manslayer is the only person to have surface above Soujiro other than his former master.’

“You really are as fast as the boss said,” Shibuyen’s oily voice said, his back against Soujiro still, while looking at the young man from the corner of his eyes. “Despite your loss against Himura the Battousai , I say you have not slipped at all – Soujiro the Tenken.”

Despite his shock at how his attacker knew this much information about him, he chose to ignore it and kept himself at a laid-back tone.

“Fast?” Soujiro asked. “That was fast for you? As I remember correctly, I was not moving fast enough at that time.”

Whether Shibuyen was struck by this, he chose to ignore it but instead, aimed at another attack – and another and another. He swung his sword at the young man, mustering every ounce of his strength in every attack. Soujiro kept dodging them, no matter how Shibuyen tries, giving blow after blow. Shibuyen was sure that he could see Soujiro’s movements very clearly, but then they could only be after-images of the young man.

Michiko watched them and she knew that Soujio was aware that she was.

Shibuyen advanced at Soujiro, who disappeared for a moment in the darkness, but reappeared again away from Shibuyen’s direction.

‘The best thing you can do, Shibuyen, is try,’ she thought. ‘But you cannot defeat him.’

Shibuyen jumped at a great distance away from Soujiro, holding his sword.

‘What ability is this?’ Shibuyen thought, taking deep breaths. ‘I cannot even get close to him. Is he faster than the speed of light? I was sure that I was moving at the speed of light, and why was he smiling?’

Soujiro smiled more widely at him. “I think you should retire, old man. You’re not really that agile anymore, although I must say that you are quick for someone your age.”

Shibuyen’s heart skipped a beat. This boy was truly a gift from heaven.

“I don’t know what’s going on here. But I hate it when someone gets outnumbered by his enemies.”

Soujiro spun around. Behind him, Sanosuke Sagara emerged from the darkness, holding up his bandaged fist. He saw that it still has not healed since his fight with the fallen monk, Anji.

“Who the hell are you?” Shibuyen asked, facing the newcomer. “A comrade, I suppose?”

Sanosuke looked at Soujiro’s darkened figure before answering Shibuyen, but before he could speak, Soujiro got ahead of him.

“No,” he answered as politely as he can. “He is not a comrade. He’s with Mr. Himura. Sanosuke Sagara, isn’t it?”

Sanosuke smirked at Soujiro. “Guess you remembered me.”

From behind Sanosuke, Soujiro saw two more of Himura’s comrades – the boy he has bumped into this evening, and the young woman who was a member of the Oniwabanshu.

The young boy immediately grabbed his wooden sword, which hung at his back. “Who the hell are these jerks? Are they with him?”

Soujiro knew the young boy was referring to him.

“No women and children allowed please,” Shibuyen sneered. “We don’t want them dead now, do we?”

“What did you just say?!” Misao shouted.

“Enough!”

The voice had come from the dark figure that stood on the tree branch.

“There will be no other bloodshed here tonight except the Tenken’s. But if you insist on making your lives short, Shibuyen and I will be honored to help you. If it is a fight two against four, it will not be a problem for us!”

The voice was deep and firm, but it belonged undoubtedly to –

“A woman?” Sanosuke said, surprised when the figure had taken off her black wrappings. She was wearing a red kimono. Her black hair was very short, not reaching her shoulder. She could have been easily mistaken for a man; however, judging from the curves of her slender body, it can be said that it belonged to a woman.

She vanished from the tree and reappeared in front of Soujiro.

“I won’t fight an unarmed man, Tenken,” she said, raising the crescent blade. “You will die if you don’t take a weapon with you.”

“Are?” Soujiro blinked, as if being asked for a cup of tea. “But I don’t have any weapons with me. Look! (He raised his hands for evidence) I’m unarmed!”

“Hey, Sano,” Yahiko whispered, edging at his companion. “This is the guy who split Kenshin’s reversed-blade sword in two? He looks geekier than Kenshin.”

“Shibuyen,” the woman called her servant. “Give him your sword.”

Shibuyen considered at first, looking at his boss and at Soujiro; then finally, he threw his sword at the young man.

Soujiro grabbed the sword, feeling it under his grip. He knew that it was not the right time to be choosy but –

‘This sword sucks,’ he thought.

He faced his opponent, his emotionless eyes set to attack. Michiko studied her opponent. It was the battle that she has been waiting for in ten years. Soujiro Seta was going to feel the pain that he had inflicted upon her. For ten years she has been making herself strong, becoming a gangster and a professional assassin for government oppositions. After she was left without a family, her soul had lost the ability to feel pity and happiness. She even cut her hair off in order to look like a man. She travelled around Japan to look for the boy who had killed her father that rainy evening. And then, one day, he found her instead – in a village she has been staying for the night at that time. Soujiro, along with Senkaku, was recruiting soldiers for Shishio Makoto’s army.

She joined Shishio’s army, watching Soujiro Seta from under his nose. The soldiers all feared him, except her. There was no space left for fear in her heart – only spite, strong enough to kill. Soujiro was forebodingly known by the soldiers to have killed many people. They say he was as merciless as Shishio Makoto. They say he was faster than the speed of light. They say that his heart was frozen as his conscience, which he did not really had at all. But no matter what she hears, there was no space left for fear in her heart – only spite, strong enough to kill. She has been only waiting for the Soujiro’s moment of weakness to inflict her revenge, even if it costs her life. After Shishio Makoto has fallen, Michiko systematically planned for Soujiro’s fall. And now, here she was, her enemy within her crescent blade’s reach.

“Attack,” Soujiro said to Michiko, watching her intently with expressionless eyes. “If you are after me for a long time, you must be itching to attack me, so come. Don’t allow yourself to wait another minute.”

“You attack first,” she replied, clutching her weapon tighter. “I am not a fool, Tenken. Your strength comes from advancing in on your opponents. I will not allow myself to be fooled by someone like you.”

“What you’ve said is not true. Thinking ahead of the opponent is not really my style – that’s Mr. Himura’s doing. I don’t read. I just attack.”

“Liar! You’re as cunning as you are skilled! I don’t care! I –“

“Very Well,” Soujiro said, vanishing immediately into thin air.

Misao , Yahiko and Shibuyen all had startled expressions. Michiko and Sanosuke, who both had seen Soujiro in battle, were not surprised by this.

“Vanished!” Misao exclaimed. “He just vanished!”

“I’ve never seen anyone move as fast as Kenshin!” Yahiko added.

Michiko did not manage to react in time. All she could remember was hearing an indistinguishable sound which seemed like the sound of a battling gun and feeling cold iron cut across the flesh of her shoulders. She did not feel any pain until her body had hit the grassy ground. She laid panting, blood gushing out of her injured shoulder and painting the green grasses red. She could smell her own blood and the aroma of soil and grass. When she looked up, she saw the Tenken standing before her, holding a sword which was lined with strips of her own blood.

“Why?” she grunted, glaring at Soujiro. “Why did you not kill me?! Weren’t you supposed to be a heartless killer?! Why?! Why?! Go on – finish it!”

Soujiro stood his ground, looking down at her. “I have no desire to take your life from the very beginning. But I want to know why you want to take my life.”

She merely glared at him. “Killing you is not my only goal. It is only a surplus of our plans to take over Japan.”

“Take over Japan?” he asked scathingly as if this was a joke. “With that weakness? Tell that to your injured shoulder. You will never succeed with that weak state.”

“Shut up! What do you know? You were just Shishio’s puppet! You couldn’t even think for yourself! You can’t even decide what’s wrong and what’s right! You don’t even know what you were fighting for! You just had the desire to be above the Juppongatana! You just want to compensate for your inferiority!”

Soujiro held his ground, keeping his head clear. He has been taunted this way before. He was not about to give the enemy the satisfaction once again by breaking down, although he could feel in his heart that almost everything she had said was true.

“Taunting me won’t get you anywhere,” he said, smiling down at her. “As for the plan to control Japan, unless you have reached the level of Mr. Shishio’s or Mr. Himura’s strength, I would advise you to drop it. Such a weakling like you will never succeed.”

He slashed the sword in the open space to remove the blood from it. He sheathed it and threw it back to its owner, who caught it with trembling hands. He turned back to Michiko, who laid bleeding on the ground and glaring at Soujiro as if he could melt any moment.

“Your life is spared,” he said. And with that, he walked away from the lot who all stared at him as he went.

“Oy,” Sanosuke called after him weakly as he slowly disappeared into the darkness of the forest.