Kaoru added another fish to the growing pile.

“Don’t you think that’s enough?” Aoshi asked. The pile of fish was nearly as tall as he was.

“We still need a few more!” she retorted. “Since yesterday all we’ve done is fight Shishio, and we haven’t had anything to eat!”

“Well hurry up! We have to get to Madiran by nightfall!”

“I know!” Then she spotted a skulker in the brush, and where there was one, there would be others.

“Three trolls,” was Aoshi’s laconic observation.

“Again?” she wailed. “I want something to eat…”

His eyes flicked over her. “You could stand to go on a diet.”

“I dare you to find one ounce of fat on me!” she snapped.

“Here they come!”

“Kaoruuuu! Where are you?! Kaoru!” Yahiko called.

There was an answering rattle from the bushes.

“Kaoru-dono, is that you?”

A man rushed out of the bushes – at least he looked like a man, though Yahiko had never seen a man with horns growing on his head before. Trolls and mazoku yes, but not a man handsome enough to set any girl’s heart beating faster. The tiger-striped garment he wore only accentuated his breathtaking looks.

“Sure don’t look like busu,” he muttered.

The stranger knelt in front of Kenshin, clasped his hand, and gazed soulfully up at him.

Kenshin blinked. “Oro?”

The horned man pulled out a scroll bound in tiger-skin. He peered at it, obviously concentrating hard, and then looked back at Kenshin. “Will you…” he began, and glanced at the scroll again. “Will you cook for me for the rest of my life?”

Yahiko burst out laughing so hard he fell over.

Kenshin stared into the molten-chocolate eyes, too shocked to speak.

“Sessha… sessha is a man,” he managed to whisper.

The tiger-clad youth’s mouth worked soundlessly. Before Kenshin’s amazed eyes, he blurred, shifted and grew… into…

It looked sort of like a tiger. A big tiger. But it had horns like a bull, and its fanged maw was set in a squarish head that looked more like a cow’s than a cat’s. It opened its huge mouth and roared.

“I only want to find Kaoru-dono,” Kenshin said. “You can save yourself serious injury by getting out of the way.”

The monster snarled and charged.

“Or not.” Kenshin sheathed his sakabatou. There might be monsters you could reason with… this hadn’t been one. But maybe the lumps he’d given it would teach it a lesson…

“Wow, Kenshin, that was amazing!” Yahiko enthused. “What’s that technique called? Could you teach it to me?”

The three trolls had become a small army. Kaoru drew her bokken. “Maybe I’m not in perfect shape, but I can give it a try! ”

Fire... BALL!

In an instant, the clearing was troll-free. “Well, it looks like I have my old stuff back,” she congratulated herself.

“It would seem that your powers have returned,” Aoshi agreed.

“I’m not a pathetic mess all the time. Anyway, let’s eat!” She looked around for the fish.

“Over there.” Aoshi pointed to a tall stack of… charcoal. The fish must have been in the midst of the attacking trolls! “It would seem they got caught inside the fireball.”

“I’m hungry!” Kaoru wailed.

“And now it’s ninja,” Aoshi observed having spotted some more lurkers in the underbrush.

Kaoru had had enough. “Would you just lay OFF!”

Far away, Shishio the Red Priest stood over a magic circle and intoned an incantation.

To darkness I pledge myself,
Come to me!

Shadows flowed into the middle of the circle and coalesced into what looked like a thin, pale-haired man – except that behind square spectacles, his eyes were the multifaceted orbs of an insect, and his fingers were elongated, cruelly hooked claws.

“So you’ve come, Kanryuu of the Mazoku,” Shishio stated.

“I’m honored that you have called upon me,” said the summoned creature with a fawning bow.

“I set before you two tasks,” Shishio went on. “First, steal the Philosopher’s Stone hidden in the orihalcon statue. Second, destroy the traitor.”

“A simple matter,” the mazoku replied. “I shall take my time killing the traitor… I think I shall first rob him of all he cherishes.”

“Your kind enjoys human fear and grief more than anything else,” the Red Priest observed. “Just don’t play with him too long.”

“I’ll do it just long enough to satisfy us both,” replied Kanryuu, and vanished.

The village looked deserted. “I’m hungry,” Kaoru whined. “I’m tired, I want to take a bath.”

“Can you walk without talking?” Aoshi grumbled.

“I thought there’d be something in this town…”

“It’s been ten years since this place was inhabited,” he pointed out.

“Besides that, how do those guys keep being able to find us?”

“I’m afraid they’re tracking me,” Aoshi apologized. “My body was altered by Shishio’s magic, so magically speaking, I ‘smell like’ him. Shishio can locate me whenever he wishes.”

“I see. No wonder there’ve been goons behind every rock lately.”

“Aa.”

“So they can head us off whenever they want.”

“As you say.”

”Would you just come out already?” Kaoru screeched to the empty windows. Her voice echoed among the buildings.

Someone took her at her word. Hyottoko appeared on one of the deserted balconies.

“Rather an overblown entrance, Hyottoko,” Aoshi commented.

“Hello there, Okashira.” Hyottoko snapped his fingers. Trolls, ninja and worse appeared out of every building.

“This is a little too overblown,” Kaoru stammered.

“Can you defeat this many by yourself?” Hyottoko sneered.

“Hold on just a minute!” Kaoru snapped. “Aren’t you forgetting somebody here?”

Hyottoko thought hard. “Who?”

Beshimi whapped him across the back of the head. “She means her, Hyottoko.”

“Me, you idiot, me!” Kaoru raged.

“So what if you are here?” Hyottoko sneered.

“I’ll feed you those words back! I’m not the wimpy girl you’ve gotten to know!” Light glowed in a sphere around her bokken.

“Don’t try to overuse your power,” Aoshi murmured. “If you exhaust yourself, you’ll be helpless before Shishio. That’s what he’s planning with all this.”

“He’s a real creep, isn’t he?” Kaoru commented. “Oh well, we’d better use the little stuff.”

Source of all power...

“Don’t let her finish!” Hyottoko yelled. The monsters rushed at her.

Light which burns beyond crimson,
Let thy power gather in my hand...
Fire...BALL!

She and Aoshi sprang to the safety of opposite rooftops, while the front ranks of Hyottoko’s monster army were turned into crispy critters.

“All right!” she exulted. “I’ve got it all back!”

“Then we’ll divide the battle between us,” Aoshi agreed.

“Okay! Leave it to me!” She took off at a run. Aoshi raced in the opposite direction.

“Wait!” Hyottoko roared to his remaining troops. “What are you all waiting for? This way!” He took off after Aoshi.

Kaoru looked back – to find no one pursuing her. Hold it! They’re all going after Aoshi! She turned… but suddenly there was someone in front of her. He looked like an ordinary townsman, maybe a prosperous merchant #&150p except that insect eyes glittered behind his spectacles and he licked his lips with a prehensile tongue. “I assume you’re another one of Shishio’s goons,” she sighed.

“And what if I am?” the stranger replied.

She shrugged. “What else? ”

FIREBALL!

“A waste of time,” the newcomer replied calmly as he levitated out of the fireball’s path.

“That self-confidence can work against you,” she smirked. The fireball turned around and took the stranger in the rear. “Shouldn’t let your guard down!”

Through the flames, her opponent made a gesture. Fiery darts streaked from his fingers. She jumped into the street with a little shriek. The stranger followed, pinning her up against a building.

“I did let my guard down,” he said with a soft laugh. “Well played, my dear. But such simple techniques have no effect on me!”

The fireball had no effect at all… “Mazoku?” she hazarded a guess.

“As you say!” His hand transformed to a fiery whip. He cracked it past Kaoru and smashed through the wall behind her. “I am called Kanryuu. Tell me where the Philosopher’s Stone is and I’ll let you live.”

“Bad guys never mean that when they say it,” she replied.

“Shall I give you my word?”

Aoshi jumped from rooftop to rooftop, barely ahead of the ground-bound pursuit. Hyottoko and several goons chased him into a tumbledown wreck of a house – but when they got inside, he wasn’t there.

Hyottoko scanned what remained of the roof. “It’s a trap!” he yelled. “Clear out!”

Too late, the roof fell in on them.

The monster cracked his fire-whip at Kaoru again. “Sorry, Gramps,” she said, “but you don’t look like the type who keeps his promises.”

“I can’t help it if you think that way. Now die!” Kanryuu levitated up to her.

“Let’s go!” Kaoru shouted, and sprang out of the way of his whip.

DIGGER BOLT!

“You fool!” the mazoku growled. With his left hand he simultaneously blocked her energy bolt and fired more flame darts at her.

“I can’t dodge them!” she gasped.

Suddenly she found herself in a clear space. She looked up. White hakama… magenta kimono… red hair…

“We meet again de gozaru yo, Kaoru-dono.”

“Kenshin!” If they hadn’t been in the middle of a fight, she would have hugged him.

“So you have another ally here?” the insect-eyed monster sneered.

“Not an ally,” Kenshin declared. “Kaoru-dono is under my protection.”

“Under your protection, you say? Then let me ask the girl one thing. You know where the Philosopher’s Stone is, don’t you?”

Kenshin blinked. “Oro?”

“Hey, I thought they just wanted that orihalcon statue!” Yahiko exclaimed.

“Don’t tell him about it!” Kaoru screeched, too late. She whacked Yahiko over the head with her bokken. “The Stone’s hidden inside it!”

“Che, busu, how’d you expect us to know?” the boy grumbled, rubbing the lump on his head.

“So there it is,” Kanryuu crooned. “You’re of no use to me now, so you’ll have to die.”

“Those are not peaceful words, that they are not,” Kenshin declared. He held his sakabatou across his body in a solid defensive stance. “Life should be respected, that it should.”

“Kenshin, wait a second!” Kaoru cried, and yanked on his ponytail.

“Orooo…”

“Never mind, just get your ear down here!”

He bent obediently. “What is it, Kaoru-dono?”

“Run for it!” She grabbed him in a headlock and took off, Yahiko hard on her heels.

“Orororo…”

“Shut up and run, Kenshin no baka!”

Kanryuu laughed. “Go ahead and run if it makes you feel better!”

Hyottoko heaved his way out from under the pile of rubble. Aoshi was standing on a nearby rooftop. He leaped down, his trenchcoat billowing out behind him.

“After him!” Hyottoko roared.

“Phew, busu, what’s this stink?” Yahiko complained. “What is this place?”

“It looks like a barn, that it does,” replied Kenshin.

“Well, how come we hafta hide in here?”

“Because Kenshin was about to fight that guy,” Kaoru exclaimed.

“Well what’s wrong with that?” Yahiko demanded. “It’s just some old guy. Even if he’s a mahoutsukai, Kenshin can take him. You shoulda seen the lumps he gave this monster on the way here!”

“Listen, that guy is a mazoku, understand, a purebred mazoku! Kenshin can’t give him lumps, his sakabatou won’t even scratch him!”

“Sou de gozaru yo,” Kenshin agreed absently. He had drawn his sakabatou and was staring at the blade, once again in his own world of thoughts and memories.

“A mazoku has a spirit body,” Kaoru explained further, “kind of like, oh, a high-density ghost. Ordinary weapons or spells can’t hurt it. Even my techniques can’t do much against a purebred mazoku except make it mad.”

“Okay, I get it,” the boy growled. “But how come they’re usin’ somethin’ like that to steal the statue?”

“Because the Philosopher’s Stone is hidden inside it!” Kaoru snapped. “And before you ask, the Stone’s a piece of the Staff of the Gods that holds up the world! And it can work like a super magic amplifier, so it’s something that can control the whole world!” Reaching for Yahiko, Kaoru overbalanced and fell on top of Kenshin.

“Hey you two, this is no time for lovey-dovey stuff!” Yahiko yelled.

Kaoru jumped to the opposite side of the barn. “We were not being lovey-dovey!” Her face was bright red.

“Hee hee hee! You’re blushin’ too, Kenshin!” the boy jeered.

And the barn exploded.

“What the…!” Kaoru squawked.

Kanryuu stalked toward them through the smoke, laughing softly. “Maybe you’re good at skipping rope, little girl, but you’re awful at hide and seek! I’m so happy! When Shishio-sama is healed and his sight restored, the first thing he’ll see will be your naked, flayed body!”

Aoshi bisected an animated corpse with a sweep of one kodachi. In the same move he turned, slashed a troll with his other blade, and followed with a blast of magical fire that left the troll a pile of smoking ash. Hyottoko started to look worried.

“I’d say this puts us on an even footing now,” Aoshi said quietly.

“Damn… what kind of monster are you?” Hyottoko asked.

“You’re the last person to call me a monster!” Aoshi retorted.

Hyottoko backed slowly out the door – and ran into Hannya. He wasn’t alone. “Hannya! Shikijou!” Hyottoko flung his arms around Hannya’s waist. “You finally came! I’m saved!”

Kanryuu raised his hands and sent a jet of fire at Kaoru and Kenshin. The rurouni took off, running. “Try to distract him, Kaoru-dono!” he called.

“Distract him?” she demanded. He didn’t listen to a word I said… oh well.

FLARE ARROW!

Not that she thought such a simple spell would work…

It didn’t. The monster raised his hand and dispelled the blazing bolt, without interrupting the barrage he was firing at Kenshin. Not that Kenshin was having any trouble dodging. He darted through the rain of fire with unbelievable speed, and launched himself into the air. “Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu… Ryuu Tsui Sen!”

“Kenshin!” Kaoru screamed.

Kenshin struck – with the sharp edge of the reverse blade! The monster’s head split in two – then rejoined. His sharp, clawed fingers lengthened to strike at Kenshin. Once again, the rurouni evaded the attack.

“You dodge well,” Kanryuu acknowledged. “And the girl’s technique shows no small skill. Well then, perhaps it’s time I stopped playing around as well.” Shadows surrounded and engulfed him. The monster put out two more arms tipped by impossibly long, sharp claws. “Forgive the delay. Let’s go!”

“Kinda bad taste,” Yahiko commented.

“Pretty weird,” Kaoru agreed.

Hyottoko turned back toward Aoshi, with Shikijou and Hannya at his back. “Well, Okashira, it seems the odds aren’t even any more!”

“I’d say we have the advantage now!” Beshimi piped up. “Let’s see you live through this… huh?” His cat-slit eyes goggled. Shikijou walked across the square and knelt before Aoshi.

“We finally found you, Okashira!” the scarred warrior said.

“Shikijou…”

“Shikijou!” Hyottoko squawked. “Are you…”

“Fool!” Shikijou exclaimed. “My loyalty is to the Oniwabanshuu – and to the Okashira! Whatever nonsense the Red Priest put into your head, my duty’s clear!” He stepped in front of Aoshi, a human wall.

“Why, you…” Hyottoko roared. He exhaled fire at Shikijou. The big man twirled his iron ball to create a whirlwind that turned the flames back onto their source. And of course, fire is one of the things that will destroy a troll.

Hyottoko was still alive. “Damn you, Shikijou!”

“Don’t forget about me!” Hannya slashed at Hyottoko with his sword, then peppered him with fireballs.

“Damn you all!” Hyottoko cried with his last breath. “Just wait till I come back to life!”

“Hyottoko!” Beshimi cried, and shot a swarm of darts at the masked mahoutsukai. Hannya sent him to join his friend in death.

Aoshi’s eyes went from the two lifeless bodies to his two living friends. His lips curved in a smile… and no one noticed how sad his eyes were.

Kenshin and Kaoru dodged another storm of fireballs. “Looks like he’s mad at us!” Kaoru panted.

Kenshin’s eyes narrowed. He sheathed his sword and took a step toward the mazoku.

“Don’t you understand, Kenshin?” Kaoru screamed. “It won’t work! Where do you think you’re going? KENSHIN!!”

He turned, gave her his sunniest smile. “Daijoubu, Kaoru-dono!” Then he walked toward Kanryuu and stopped. In his hand he held up a slender piece of metal, no bigger than a toothpick.

The monster loomed over the diminutive rurouni. “You don’t think that needle can beat me, do you?” he jeered. “Well, speak up!”

Kenshin smiled. “If my sword couldn’t defeat you, how can this needle?”

“So you’ve got some sense after all. What are you going to do with it then?”

“I’m going to do this, that I am.” Kenshin touched the needle to a point on his sword hilt. There was an audible click. “Do you understand yet?”

“Kenshin, do you know what you’re doing?” Kaoru yelled in panic.

“Boy, I don’t understand one thing you’ve said,” the monster growled.

“Oro?” Kenshin blinked. “I’m twenty-eight… why does everyone think I’m a boy?”

“Boy or man, you’re a pathetic fool!” A fireball appeared in each of the mazoku’s clawed hands.

“There’s no choice now,” Kaoru muttered, and drew her bokken. “I’ll show you how strong I am!”

Darkness beyond twilight,
Crimson beyond blood that flows,
Buried in the flow of time...

“Hikari yo!” Kenshin cried. “Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu – Ryuu Shou Sen!” He leaped toward the monster and his blade snapped out. Kaoru broke off her spellcasting and gasped in amazement.

Instead of the familiar steel sakabatou, Kenshin’s blade was two and a half shaku of searing, actinic-white light! The rising stroke caught Kanryuu squarely under the chin, and everything was lost in blinding glare.

Kenshin landed with his customary lightness. When the dust settled, there was no sign of the mazoku.

“Sugoi, Kenshin!” Yahiko ran out from behind the pile of rubble where he’d been hiding. “That was great! Oi, busu, what’s the matter!”

Kaoru was staring at Kenshin in blank-eyed amazement. “The Sword of Light,” she breathed. “The legendary sword that cut down the demon Zanaffar with a single stroke! Kenshin…”

Kenshin sheathed the glowing blade as if it were an ordinary sword. “Sumanai, Kaoru-dono,” he apologized. “Sessha never intended to deceive you, that I didn’t.”

“How… how did you get something like the Sword of Light?” she stammered.

“It’s an heirloom of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu,” he replied. “To be used in defense of people against things of great evil, like mazoku.”

“Is that why you disguise it with an ordinary sword, Kenshin?” Yahiko asked. “So nobody’ll know you have it?”

“Aa.”

“But how come the sakabatou?”

“Because I do not want to kill people, that I don’t.”

“But what about Big Ugly? And those trolls, a few nights back?” Yahiko persisted.

“Sessha only destroyed the monster’s body on this plane,” Kenshin began.

“That’s right, Yahiko,” Kaoru put in. “Like I told you, mazoku aren’t material, they have spirit bodies on this plane. So when it’s destroyed here, it’s banished to the Astral. And the trolls – well, trolls are created by magic and they aren’t exactly quite alive, so Kenshin didn’t really kill them.”

“It seems you made it all right,” said Aoshi. He came up behind Kaoru, accompanied by Shikijou and Hannya.

“Aoshi…” Kenshin’s eyes narrowed and his hand strayed toward his weapon.

“Kenshin, wait!” Kaoru cried. “Aoshi’s on our side now!”

“Oro?”

“We’ve been through a lot, but we’re on the same side now,” Hannya added. He took off his mask. Under it, his face was even more hideously deformed – but his eyes shone.

Kaoru blinked a little, but didn’t look away – and took the hand that Hannya offered in friendship.

NOTES, EXPLANATIONS ETC.

It’s taken a bit of juggling to keep Kenshin in character. Since the story, a few chapters back, required him to destroy trolls, I had to invent something that would let him do it – I made them into something more like humanoid darkenbeasts or self-repairing flesh golems. I’m still evolving ideas about Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu and the Sword of Light too. I’m going to lose track of all the patches on the inconsistencies…

The monster that Kenshin and Yahiko encounter in the forest morphed into Rei from Urusei Yatsura. I know, I’m evil…