“Unjustly accused and now outlaws, our journey just keeps going and going. Saying ‘let’s beat those bounty hunters and on to Sairaag’ doesn’t help inexperienced good samaritans like us much. Playing bride was okay, but all the trouble that came with it was a real pain! Huh? Katsuhiro Tsukioka’s still alive? Sanosuke was his usual persistent self. What else is going to happen to us? Oh well, no time to get depressed. Hang in there, Kaoru Kamiya!”

An unearthly noise, somewhere between a wild beast’s growl and a banshee’s wailing, split the peaceful silence of the forest. “There goes Busu’s stomach again,” Yahiko muttered.

“We might get some food if we attacked some bandits,” Misao sighed.

“Well, there aren’t any bandits around so we’re still stuck,” Kaoru pointed out. “What do you want? Maybe go into a town and get arrested?”

“Your stomach may be empty, but your mouth never is,” Yahiko retorted.

“Just shut up!” Kaoru bashed him over the head with her bokken. “Oh, forget it. I can’t move any more, I’m too hungry.”

Misao suddenly raised her head. “Kaoru-san!”

Yahiko’s nose twitched. “That smell!”

Kaoru gasped. “It could only be…”

“FOOD!” they all chorused, and ran in the direction of the delicious aroma. They pushed through a stand of tall grass and saw, in the center of a clearing, a huge pot full of stew, bubbling invitingly over a fire.

“There it is!” Misao sighed. “A gift from the kami! Heaven never forsakes the allies of Justice! Hey, save some for me!” Kaoru and Yahiko hadn’t wasted time declaiming, they dug right in. Even Kenshin had taken a bowl for himself.

“But whose stew is it de gozaru ka?” Kenshin wondered.

“Oh, don’t sweat the details,” Yahiko replied. “Hey weasel, quit hoggin’ all the meat!”

“Who are you calling weasel, you little… huh?”

“Hey! That’s our food!”

The speaker was a beast-man, a tall, massive hulk with the head and curving tusks of a wild boar. With him were a beautiful woman, a slender man with furtive eyes, and a tall man in a red coat and white breeches. Perched on the red-coated man’s shoulder was a girl about Yahiko’s age.

“Who are you people?” the red-coated man asked.

All Kaoru and her friends could do was offer embarrassed grins. “It was really good!”

“We’re the Ebisu Cannon Circus,” the red-coated man explained.

“We used to be with the Sumidaya show,” his daughter Marimo went on. “But Father wanted to do a more modern type of act, so we decided to branch out on our own.”

“The capital of the circus world, Baraboo, is holding a big competition. So we’re on our way there.”

“Baraboo…” Kaoru murmured. That’s on the way to Sairaag…and Sanosuke might not notice us if we were in a bigger group… “Say, could you guys use some extra hands?”

“What?” demanded Yahiko. “We’re gonna be circus performers now?”

“Well, if we stick with this show all the way to Baraboo, it won’t be that much farther to Sairaag,” Kaoru pointed out.

“Sou de gozaru yo,” Kenshin agreed.

“And they don’t seem to recognize us either.”

“Well,” said Ebisu-san, “I was thinking of hiring some clowns and adding a skit to the show. I’ve been working on a really funny one: the Great Fiend Kaoru Kamiya.”

Kaoru face-faulted. “Funny?”

Yahiko’s eyes bugged out. “Clowns?”

Misao looked indignant. “Great Fiend?”

“Yare yare,” Kenshin sighed. “At least no one will expect to find us de gozaru yo.”

“He’s really going to go through with that skit idea,” the beautiful woman grumbled.

“We spend the whole tour running off every act he tries to hire, and then these idiots walk right into camp,” the swordsman complained.

“The cannon act is bad enough. Who would have thought it would be so popular? But if he gets the skit together he might actually win at Baraboo, and if he gets too much attention we won’t be able to continue our… more profitable activities. And Sumidaya-san can’t protect us any more.”

“They might not work out,” the strong man pointed out. “They don’t know anything about the circus, and they look like they’re kinda dumb – especially the guy with the red hair.”

“You’re the one who’s dumb!” the woman retorted. “That woman’s a kenjutsuka and a mahoutsukai – there’s no way she can be stupid. And the other woman talks like she’s educated, maybe highborn. Unless…”

“What? Have you thought of something?”

The woman smirked. “We find some bounty hunters – the kind that attack first and ask questions later – and tell them she’s Kaoru Kamiya. By the time they figure out they’ve been had, we’ll be long gone and our guests will be toast – and there goes Ebisu’s show! He’ll come crawling back to Sumidaya, and we’ll be able to expand our operations clear to Seyruun!”

“They’re gone!” the girl cried the next morning. “I knew it! I knew they’d do something!”

“Now, Marimo-chan,” her father soothed. “They’ve been with us ever since we went out on our own. They believe in the Ebisu Circus as much as we do. Why else would they have come with us instead of staying with Sumidaya-san?”

“To interfere with us!” Marimo retorted. “You’re the best ringmaster Sumidaya-san ever had, and if you can’t pay him back we’ll have to go back to working for him! They’ve driven away every act you’ve tried to hire, and I’m sure they’ve been committing robberies in the towns where we’ve played! Now all we’ve got is my cannon act and those strangers!” She stamped her foot in frustration.

“What’s goin’ on?” Yahiko asked.

Marimo sighed. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to have a show after all, even with the skit. Everybody’s gone except you and your friends.”

“Everybody?” he blinked.

“Shibuta-san, he was our strong man. Kaede-san walks on a rope suspended between two poles and throws kunai at targets, and Ishikawa-kun does swordsmanship exhibitions.”

Yahiko scratched his head. “Hey. I’ve seen Misao throw kunai, she’s pretty good. And Kenshin’s the best swordsman in the world. And I guess Busu could do something – but watch out ‘cuz her magic’s likely to burn the tent down.”

“You’d really help us?”

“Well yeah,” the boy protested. “I mean, we ate your food and all, and ‘sides, I don’t like seein’ girls cry.”

“I wasn’t crying!”

“Were too! ‘Fess up!”

Kenshin, watching the scene from behind the corner of the tent, smiled.

“This is supposed to be a funny skit?” Kaoru fumed. “Bring Us Justice and Peace: The Death of the Abominable Fiend Kaoru Kamiya!” She waved the playbook under Misao’s nose. “Look at this! The fiendish Kaoru Kamiya, possessing demonic powers, has thrown the peace of the world into chaos, when a hero of peace and justice stood up to defeat her evil. Go, brave hero! Smite the evil Kaoru with the hammer of Justice!” She slammed the book down on the table. “They have GOT TO BE KIDDING! Why am I the villain?!! Me, the poor, helpless, beautiful kenjutsu komachi?”

“We know you’re not an abominable fiend de gozaru yo,”Kenshin soothed.

“It’s a play,” Misao reminded her. “That’s all it is, just a play. When you think of it like that, it’s really kind of neat.” She struck a pose. “Soulless fiend who thrives on the evil of the world! Taste now the swift sword of Justice!”

“Oh, that was wonderful, Misao-chan!” enthused the red-coated ringmaster.

“Huh? Ebisu-san?”

He beckoned. “Come with me.”

Misao gasped at the costume Ebisu-san laid out for her to wear. It was absolutely the fanciest armor she’d ever seen. Not even the Seyruun palace guards had anything half so ornate. An elaborately-chased, gilded back-and-breast was surmounted by epaulets that stuck out from her shoulders like golden wings – this in addition to the real gold wings that trailed down her back. Golden greaves accentuated the shapeliness of her slender legs, and more wings were attached to the backs of the sollerets. There was a short golden jupon to go over a flaring pink skirt, and vambrace and gauntlets as elaborate as the greaves. A winged headpiece, rather than a helmet that would have obscured her face, completed the costume. It was armor fit for a Champion of Justice, a Knight of Cephied, a Golden Saint. “You want me to be the hero?” she squeaked.

“I can’t think of anyone who’d be better.”

Misao frowned. “Shouldn’t Marimo-chan…?”

Ebisu laughed. “Oh no! We’re combining the skit with the cannon act, so she’s got to take Kaoru’s part. The climax is when Kaoru gets fired out of the cannon.”

“Oh.”

“Come on, try the costume on and see how you look in it.”

She looked wonderful. The glittering armor fit as if it had been made for her. Wearing it, she seemed to almost glow with righteousness.

“Seeing you like this reminds me of my little sister,” Ebisu sniffed.

Misao blinked. “Your sister?”

Ebisu looked away, blinking back tears. “Yes. We were separated in childhood decades ago, and I have no idea where she is now or what she’s doing.”

Misao started to cry. Kaoru sniffled.

“There are so many sad stories in the world de gozaru yo,” Kenshin observed.

“It isn’t true,” said Marimo.

“Oro?”

“Otousan always wanted to be in the theater instead of the circus. He reads plays and gets them mixed up with reality all the time. You’d better watch yourselves and not take him too seriously.”

Misao clenched her fist, tears flowing. “Now I see. This too is part of my destiny! I, Misao, humbly and respectfully accept this role!”

Yahiko sighed. “Hook, line and sinker.”

“Well, what do I do?” Kaoru asked. “You can’t just ignore a komachi like me.”

Ebisu flung a large sack at her feet. “You and the kid can play this. Himura, I hear you’re pretty good with a sword, you can take over Ishikawa’s act. And Misao, if you can throw kunai maybe you can double for Kaede. We’ll have to work on a quick costume change, though.”

“Okay, let’s take it from the top!” a weary Ebisu groaned.

Marimo stalked into the ring, wearing blue hakama, a white kimono, and a snarling youkai mask that bore a vague resemblance to an angry Kaoru. “My name is Kaoru, the embodiment of evil!” she proclaimed. “The source of misfortune! The Enemy of All Who Live! The fiendish Kaoru who brings fear and destruction to the world! Come forth, my lovely dragon slave!”

Nothing happened.

“Come forth, my lovely dragon slave!” Marimo repeated, louder.

“Yahiko, wrong foot!” Kaoru exclaimed.

“You’re doin’ it wrong, busu!” Yahiko retorted.

And down the aisle, a cute little green dragon staggered and lurched toward the ring, bumping into seats all the way down. It seemed to be having an argument with itself.

“Would you get with it?”

“All right, all right!”

“The other foot! The other foot!”

The dragon tangled in its own legs, collapsed in a heap, and rolled into the ring.

Ebisu put his head in his hands and groaned.

“You did say this was supposed to be a clown skit de gozaru yo,” Kenshin pointed out.

“Rehearsal, start!”

“Kaoru Kamiya, you fiendish devil!” Misao proclaimed. “The sun which shines in the heavens might forgive your evil, but I do not!” I love this! she thought.

“Impudent wretch!” snarled the enraged youkai-Kaoru. “Go forth, dragon!”

“Roar!” Yahiko yelled. But the dragon still had a split-personality issue. “Come on, keep up with me!”

“Well, walk straight!” Kaoru, in the dragon’s tail, snapped back.

“Quit blamin’ me!”

“Oh, just shut up!”

Despite the internal arguments, this time the dragon managed to make its way into the ring without mishap.

Misao drew her blade. “Taste the swift sword of justice!” Suspended by a flying harness, she soared down from her perch high above the ring and whacked the dragon across the nose.

“Ow!” Yahiko yelled.

“NO MORE!” Kaoru screamed. She sat up, blinking. “Huh? A dream? I’m dreaming about those stupid rehearsals? I can’t take this any more! Right, guys?”

She looked around. Misao was posing with her sword, and Kenshin was mending a tear in the dragon costume. Yahiko was talking to Marimo while she stirred a pot of stew.

Kaoru sighed. “They’ve all gotten used to it. Come on, let’s ditch this show and head straight for Sairaag!”

“But this work’s easy!” Yahiko protested. “There’s plenty of food and nobody chasing us!”

“So,” Kaoru grumbled, feeling betrayed. “And you, Misao?”

Misao struck yet another pose. “I may have found my True Calling.”

Kaoru sat down again. “Oh, great.”

Somewhere, a door slammed open and Sanosuke Sagara stalked out into the street. “Sano, wait!”Katsu called after him.

“I don’t work for you,” Sano growled. “It’s my fight, I’ll do it my way.”

“They’re to be captured alive. Is that clear?”

“Che!” Sano spat and strode into the night.

The road to Baraboo was jammed with the wagons of hopeful circus troupes and individual acts trying to be hired on by a bigger show. Grim-faced guards inspected each wagon, but let the Ebisu Cannon Circus pass without incident.

Misao’s blade flashed, and the dragon toppled. “I have slain the dragon!” she announced in triumph.

Ebisu can’t complain this time! Kaoru thought. We were perfect!

“It just doesn’t have any oomph!” Ebisu held a bomb in one hand and a blazing torch in the other. “A fireball would be wonderful, but I don’t suppose you can cast one. So…”

“No, don’t!” cried Kaoru.

“Otousan!” Marimo screamed.

“Oi, are you nuts?”

With his godlike fighting speed, Kenshin grabbed Ebisu and hustled him out of the tent just before the bomb blew up.

“They’re goin’ to Baraboo? The guys who took your jobs?”

“That’s right,” said the sly-eyed Ishikawa.

“Sumidaya-san will pay you well if they are caught before the Ebisu Cannon Circus can perform,” Kaede offered.

“Suits me.” Sanosuke Sagara cracked his knuckles.

“Just watch your step,” rumbled Shibuta. “Baraboo’s real security-minded. The place is crawling with guards. Anybody getting into a fight gets thrown in jail real quick!”

“Don’t worry,” Sano grinned. “I’ve got the situation well in hand, thanks to the help you guys gave me.” He held up a copy of the script for the Kaoru Kamiya skit.

The Big Top was the center of Baraboo – an enormous circus tent, almost the size of the palace complex in Seyruun. Bright-colored wagons ringed it – wagons belonging to small shows hoping to win the grand prize, and big shows looking for acts to hire. Kaoru slipped from between two of the wagons and headed out into the city. “Why should I have to work for that crazy guy?” she wondered. Then she stopped. The wall in front of her was literally covered with wanted posters. Some were of Kenshin, and there was even one of Aoshi, but most bore her face. Those same posters that had dogged her all the way from Seyruun – here too! The price on her head had gone up too – the bounty was now six million yen!

It’s hard to keep your head when it’s worth more to somebody else than it is to you… “Do they have to put those wanted posters everywhere?” she grumbled, and turned around – right into a squad of grim-faced city guards.

“Bye bye!” She turned and ran.

“Hold it, young lady!” barked the guards’ leader.

She stopped. “Um, I’m just…” screwed…

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Ebisu demanded. His red coat stood out sharply against the gray uniforms of the guards. “Sorry about my daughter,” he apologized.

“Daughter?” The guard captain was suspicious. “But you don’t look anything alike.”

Ebisu slapped Kaoru across the face and knocked her into a pile of boxes. “All you do is cause me trouble!” he raged. “Making your poor dead mother worry about you from heaven!” He winked, and Kaoru understood that this was a performance for the guards’ benefit. “Daughter, I know your path is a hard one, but can’t we walk it together?Now, come to your father’s arms.”

Kaoru took the cue. “Papa, I’m sorry! It’s all my fault!” She leaped into Ebisu’s embrace – and gave him a headbutt in the chin. “I’m sorry, Papa! I’ll do what you say and be a good girl!”

“Good! You understand!” Ebisu pulled her hair under cover of an affectionate embrace.

“You’re hurting me, Daddy!”

“Daughter!” He punched her in the jaw.

“All right, all right!” cried the flustered guard. “Just try to get along!”

“Taking off right before a show,” Ebisu grumbed as they headed back to the wagon. “Good grief, you’ll never be a real circus performer!”

“You know who I am, don’t you?” Kaoru asked quietly. “You could get a lot of money for turning me in. Why did you help me?”

“You’re part of the Ebisu Cannon Circus,” he replied. “Whoever else you are doesn’t matter. Still, you gave a really good performance back there. It was almost like having my dear dead wife back again.”

“Oh, it’s a wife this time?” Kaoru began, but stopped when she saw the look in Ebisu’s eyes.

“Yes – Marimo’s mother. Now come on. The show’s about to start.”

“Otousan! Otousan, it’s terrible!”

“Marimo-chan, what’s wrong?”

“The gunpowder for the cannon act – it’s gone!”

Ebisu dropped to his knees, shoulders slumped in utter defeat. “It’s over. If we don’t have a cannon act there’s no point in going on. There’s no way we can win, and no way I can come up with the money to pay Sumidaya-san back.”

“Wait, Ebisu-dono!” Kenshin’s voice was as sharp as the edge of his blade. “There should be fireworks-makers in a city like this. Visit many places and borrow a little from each, that you can.”

“But if it takes too long…” he objected.

“We’ll hold the audience!” said Kaoru.

“I’ll go get the gunpowder!” Yahiko exclaimed.

“I’ll come with you!” cried Marimo. “You don’t know the right mix!”

Inside, the audience was starting to get rowdy. “Come on, hurry up and start already! We paid good money to see this!”

“Thank you for waiting!” Kaoru stepped into the ring.

“She’s going all out!” Misao marveled.

“She’s perfectly in character de gozaru yo,” Kenshin smiled.

“Thank you very much for coming out to see the Ebisu Cannon Circus today!” Kaoru bowed. “Now before our main attraction, we’re going to show you something special – ball-riding and umbrella-spinning featuring Somenosuke Himura!”

Kenshin blinked. “Oro?”

“Where there’s a will there’s a way!” she exclaimed. “Here!” She handed Kenshin an umbrella.

Kenshin sighed and eyed the huge ball. “It’s like a boat that I’m halfway on… I will stand de gozaru yo!” He leaped onto the ball and scrambled to keep his balance as it rolled under his feet. “Ororororooooo…” He managed to get the umbrella open. Somehow it made keeping his balance easier, and he rode the ball once around the ring. I wonder why Shishou never thought of ball-riding as a training technique… “Kaoru-dono!” Kaoru tossed him a ball. He caught it on the open umbrella and let it spin around in a circle – until he lost his coordination and fell off the ball, flat on his back.

“Way to go, Somenosuke!” the crowd cheered. “Do some more! You’re amazing!”

“Thank you!” Yahiko and Marimo bowed to the fireworks-maker.

“Glad to be of help!” the man replied. “I’m tempted to tag along – I’ve never heard of shooting a girl out of a cannon before.” He exhaled a cloud of smoke from his cigarette.

“How many times I gotta tell ya not to smoke around the fireworks, Oyaji!” A foot planted itself in the fireworks-maker’s face, and the man went sprawling into the street. He was up in an instant, and a dustcloud fight broke out between him and his attacker – a boy a few years older than Yahiko, with messy black hair sticking out from under a red cap, and a strange armguard on his right arm.

Marimo and Yahiko beat a hasty retreat.

“Kaoru-dono, the target has been prepared,” Kenshin announced and stepped away from Kaoru. She was tied securely to a wooden door propped against the great tent’s center pole.

“Why am I doing this?” she wailed.

Kenshin smiled. “This is Misao-dono’s instruction.”

“What if she hits me?” Kaoru asked in a panic.

Misao threw her kunai. They landed in a perfect pattern around Kaoru. But just as she produced another handful of throwing daggers, Kaoru hopped out of the ring with the heavy door on her back.

“Outta the way!” Yahiko yelled.

A man stuck out his foot and tripped him. “It’s dangerous if you don’t pay attention when you run,” he smirked.

Yahiko knew a deliberate attack when he saw one. He drew his shinai. “You…”

“You better give us that bag there!”

“No way!” the boy retorted.

Suddenly the attacker jumped back, yelping in pain. A score of small explosions erupted from under his feet.

“Better beat it fast!” grinned the boy from the fireworks-maker’s.

Yahiko stared, open-mouthed. “How’d you do that? Are you a mahoutsukai?”

“Nope,” the boy replied. “I’m ninja!” He held some little black spheres between his fingers.

Marimo grabbed Yahiko’s hand and raced back to the show. “Thank you!” she called back over her shoulder.

Neither of them saw a tall, spiky-haired figure in white peel itself off a nearby wall and slouch over to the discomfited bully. “I got a deal for your boss,” he said.

Kaoru held up an enormous sake-cup. “Drink, drink sake,” Kenshin sang. “If you drink, watch out for fires…”

“Stop that stupid song!” the audience yelled. “Where’s the human cannonball?!”

“Yeah, we put up with a lot of boring stuff, now we want our money’s worth!”

“Kenshin! Kaoru!” Yahiko raced down the aisle, one hand holding Marimo’s wrist and the other waving the precious bag. Close on their heels came a tall, portly merchant. Following him were a boar-headed beast-man, a slender fellow with shifty eyes, and a beautiful, hard-faced woman.

“Marimo! Misao!” Kaoru cried. “Go get ready! We’ll take care of these guys and put on a real show!”

Ebisu took a step forward. “Sumidaya-san!”

“Time’s up, Ebisu! Now, either cough up the dough or come back to work for me. Otherwise, I’ll make sure neither you nor that pretty daughter of yours ever perform again!”

The shifty-eyed swordsman sliced through the tent’s center pole. Spectators screamed as the support fell and the heavy canvas settled slowly toward the ground.

BURST RONDO!

Flames engulfed the collapsing canvas. In an instant there was nothing left of it but ashes. The crowd gasped.

“Hee hee hee,” chortled the swordsman. “After a lifetime of practice, I finally get to kill somebody!”

“No, let me crush their necks!” snarled the boar-man.

“Your skills are not for fighting de gozaru yo,” Kenshin murmured.

“Don’t take us too lightly,” the swordsman grinned and licked his blade. “The last guy that interfered with us ended up in the river.”

“Shut up!” Sumidaya yelled, and glanced nervously around.

“Kenshin!” Kaoru called. “This is supposed to be a show! Use this!” She tossed him the umbrella he had used earlier. “I’m leaving these guys to you! Come on, Yahiko, we’re on in a minute!”

Kenshin caught the umbrella. His eyes glinted and he looked up at the crowd. “Now, sessha will demonstrate the secrets of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu.” He held out the umbrella. “Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu Umbrella Dance!”

Kaede screamed like a harpy and threw her kunai.

“Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu Umbrella Spin!” Kenshin twirled the umbrella in a spin that deflected the kunai harmlessly into the barrier between the ring and the seats. “Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu Ball Throw!” He picked up the ball he had been balancing on – one-handed – and flung it at Kaede. She went down like a bowling pin.

The boar-man lowered his head and charged straight at Kenshin. “Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu Boar Evasion!” Kenshin closed the umbrella and planted the end squarely in the middle of the boar-man’s snout. A twist of his wrist, and the huge strongman went spinning up into the sky. The delighted crowd watched as he became a mere speck, lost in the afternoon brightness.

“It worked de gozaru yo,” Kenshin murmured.

“Wow!” marveled Yahiko from inside the dragon costume. He and Kaoru had come back just in time to catch the boar-man’s exit. “You have a technique like that?”

“Iie,” Kenshin shook his head. “Sessha saw it done once… by a young man who was asking the way to a place called Furinkan High.”

“Well, it’s finally my turn,” the swordsman grinned. “Aren’t you going to draw your sword?”

“An umbrella is enough de gozaru yo,” replied Kenshin and leaped into the air. “Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu… Umbrella Drop!” Even without a sword, Ryuu-Tsui-Sen had its usual effect. The swordsman dropped like a felled tree.

The crowd applauded.

At a signal from Ebisu, the musicians played a fanfare. Perched on one of the poles around the ring stood Misao, dressed in her glittering golden armor. She drew her sword and struck a dramatic pose. “Though the sun which shines in the heavens may forgive your evil, I do not!” she proclaimed.

Marimo, in her Kaoru-youkai costume, stalked into the ring. “Impudent brat!” she raged. “Come out, my lovely dragon slave!”

The dragon stomped into the ring beside her and gave out Yahiko’s best roar.

“Brave heroine, I’ve come to help kill this villain!” a new voice rang out. Down the aisle came a tall figure in white, with the rough accent and swaggering gait of a tavern brawler. He carried a long, thin object across his shoulders, and as he strode into the ring everyone could see the kanji “aku” emblazoned on the back of his hanten. Spiky black hair, tied with a long red band, looked very odd behind the mask of a cute blonde girl. He whipped the cover from the long bundle, revealing an enormous sword, and sliced the head from Kaoru-youkai.

“Hey! Stop it!” Marimo yelled.

His next stroke sliced the “dragon” in two.

“Hold it!” Yahiko yelled, just as the back end of the dragon grabbed the front end and vanished through a door concealed in the base of the ringmaster’s stand. “Phew, what’s that stink?”

“I think they use this for animal acts,” Kaoru replied.

“Kaoru-dono!” Kenshin exclaimed. “It’s Sanosuke de gozaru yo!”

“I know,” she replied. “And where he is, that Katsu won’t be far behind!”

“What’re we gonna do in all this crowd?” Yahiko asked.

Kaoru grinned. “Steal the show!”

Light shone out from around the concealed door – and then the door flew off. Kaoru, Kenshin and Yahiko levitated into the ring – well, actually Kaoru was doing all the levitating, but she did her best to make it look like they were pulling their own weight – and landed in front of Sano.

“Kaoru-san!” Misao cried. “Himura!”

“Well, you finally showed up!” The cute-girl mask cracked and fell away, to reveal Sano’s cocky grin and ever-present fishbone.

Kaoru pointed at him. “At last you’ve shown yourself, Sanosuke the Demon King!”

Sano blinked and pointed at himself. “Demon King? Me?”

“Your evil powers changed us holy warriors into an evil dragon!” Kaoru went on. “And with that impostor of me under your control, you lured the brave princess here to kill her! But now that we’ve regained our true forms, your evil ends here!”

The audience burst into cheers.

Kaoru elbowed Kenshin in the ribs. “Hey, Holy Warrior Kenshin! Say something!”

“Oro? Sessha?” He took a step forward. “I do not like to fight de gozaru yo, but I will protect this girl’s happiness and stop your evil!”

About halfway up the seats, a woman took off her scarf and waved it. “He’s so cute!”

I’m getting upstaged! Misao fumed. “I thought as much!” she called. “Then it’s time we joined forces to smash the real villains! Let’s go!” She leaped down from her perch – and landed on top of Sano, who sprawled on his face. “You see! The force of Justice is with us!”

“I knew I couldn’t leave this to Sanosuke,” said a disembodied voice. Purple flames appeared out of nowhere.

“Katsu!” Kaoru gasped.

“Wow, it looks just like real magic,” a child marveled. “How’d they do that?”

A silvery sphere appeared in his hand, and levitated into the air.

BOOST BOLT!

Lightning arced from Katsu’s hand to the sphere, which began to glow and spit bolts of energy in all directions.

FREEZE ARROW!

Kaoru hurled a spear of ice at Katsu. It became a rain of frozen darts that shattered harmlessly on the shield of his magic – but it did disrupt his concentration enough that the Boost Bolt vanished.

“Useless,” Katsu chuckled. “And unless you’re ready to blast everyone around us, you can’t use your Dragon Slave.” He vanished in an explosion of brilliant multicolored sparks.

“Huh?” Kaoru looked around for the source of the blast. She certainly hadn’t done it. Then she spotted Ebisu standing by the performers’ entrance, holding an armload of firecrackers. He grinned and waved. She waved back. “Thank you!”

“Kuso!” Katsu hissed, batting at sparks that had settled on his haori. It seemed his magical shield wasn’t much good against non-magical fire.

Kaoru pointed her bokken at him.

FIREBALL!

Distracted by the fireworks attack, Katsu had let his shield fall. The incandescent energy struck him full-on.

“Wow!” gasped the amazed crowd. “It looks like he really died!”

“Enough of this farce!” Sano yelled. “I’ll do whatever it takes to settle the score with you, Himura!” He whirled his enormous sword over his head, then swung a smashing blow at Kenshin. The agile rurouni ducked under the stroke and caught Sano across the chest with a battoujutsu that was almost too fast to see.

DIEM WING!

They had forgotten Misao. A blast of wind picked Sano up and carried him across the ring. He slammed headfirst into the mouth of the waiting cannon.

Ebisu grinned and lit the fuse.

BOOM!

Sanosuke soared gracefully over the wall of the tent and vanished from sight.

The audience went wild, and there was nothing left to do but take bows.

“You really did steal the show, Kaoru-san!” Misao enthused.

“Naturally,” Kaoru replied. “I am the kenjutsu komachi after all.”

“Hey Kaoru, I bet we can make the dragon part even better!” Yahiko urged.

Kaoru rounded on him with her bokken raised. “Do it yourself.”

NOTES, EXPLANATIONS ETC.

The “circus” episode of RK isn’t one of my personal favorites, but it was great to combine with the episode of Slayers where Lina & co. join a traveling theater company. There are beast-men in that episode, so I made the circus strongman into a boar-man. Names were guesswork; I didn’t see the names of the original characters, so I made them up. Shibuta is a combination of the words for boar and pig. Kaede is just a bitch, pure and simple, so I gave her the name of the woman I currently most love to hate, Hana Yori Dango’s Kaede Doumyouji. Ishikawa just popped into my head, he is not related in any way to Goemon. (I don’t think I really have a slot for the Zantetsu-ken, but it’s certainly an idea…) “Somenosuke” is the brainchild of the RK writers, and I disclaim all responsibility for him – althought I did turn up a reference to a real-life Japanese juggling team called Somenosuke and Sometaro. As for Misao’s costume, I grabbed a random armor out of Saint Seiya; thanks to Luriko-Ysabeth for suggesting the Gold Saints. They sure do have fancy armor!

Since Yahiko and Marimo were buying fireworks, who should they meet but the great fireworks-master Shigeo Hanabishi? His foster-son Recca insisted on poking his nose in too, but then what do you expect from a wannabe ninja?

Baraboo is a wonderfully silly-sounding name, isn’t it? It’s real, the name of a place that is almost synonymous with circus – the Wisconsin home town of the Ringling Brothers and site of the Circus Museum. Years ago I read part of a science fiction series about a spacefaring circus; their ship was called the City of Baraboo and that’s mostly where I got the idea.

And since I had a cannon, I couldn’t resist shooting Sano out of it! (I’ll treat him better later, I promise!)