One of the best things about traveling is the food!  The Akabeko in Sandoria was great, and so was the Shirobeko in Furinkan, but I’ve heard there’s a restaurant called the Kurobeko in the next town where the beef hot pot’s even better!

The streets were quiet, dark and deserted except for a little group – a tall man with straight black hair held by a paisley headband, and several younger companions.  “Sensei, it’s dangerous at night.  Please let us accompany you!”

The leader smiled.  “I’d like to see the faces of anyone mad enough to attack me.”

At that instant, the street lamps went out.

“Who’s there?” the youth cried.

Lighting!

The man in the paisley headband gestured and light sprang from his upraised hand.  The light revealed masked figures: rabbits, cats, tanuki, and a fox painted to resemble a stage demon.  “We’re the Kenwadan,” the leader announced, “and you have something we want!”

“We’re poor students and artists,” the long-haired mahoutsukai told him.  “If you’re looking for money, you’d better hold up a politician.”

“You know what we want!” Fox-mask snarled.  “Hand over the information you have or it’ll go worse for you!”

Freeze Arrow!

The masked thugs dodged the ice bolts easily.  “Your magic won’t work on us!”

“All right – but your fight is with me.  Let the others go.”

“Sensei…” one protested.

“You can’t fight these guys.  Run for it!”

The youths didn’t need to be told twice.  They bolted.

“Now it’s just you and me,” the mahoutsukai said.

Icicle Lance!

“So where’s the Kurobeko?” Yahiko groaned.  “Sheesh, I sure hope they’re open this late.  I’m hungry.”

“Oro?”  Kenshin raised his head, listening.

“What is it, Kenshin?” asked Yahiko.

“Someone is fighting with magic,” Aoshi observed.

“It’s this way!  Come on!”  Kaoru led the way at a run.

Again the thugs dodged.  “We told you your spells can’t hurt us.  Now be good and give us what you’ve got!”

“Only if you can catch me!”  The sorcerer turned and ran.

I can’t let them have it – but if they catch me, I can’t let them find it on me.  What to do…?  He took a small object – a key – from his kimono sleeve, looking for a place to hide it.  He stumbled and sprawled headlong on the cobblestones, and the key flew from his hand.

“He dropped it!” cried one of the pursuers.  “I saw it go over there!”

As they approached, a big, fuzzy brown dog turned and looked at them.  It had something in its mouth.

“Hey, that dog’s got the key!”

The masked thugs gave chase.  The dog turned and ran – down alleys and across back yards, until it reached the river and jumped in.  The Kenwadan, unwilling to follow the dog into the icy currents, gave up the pursuit and turned back toward their human quarry.

“Since you won’t give us the information, I guess we’ll have to make sure you don’t use it!” the leader snarled.  He and his companions drew short, wicked-looking blades and rushed forward.

“Hold it right there!”

They froze.  In front of them stood a girl in an abbreviated version of ninja garb.  Kunai glittered between her fingers.

“Villains who hide your faces behind masks and attack innocent people in the dark, in the name of Justice I’ll punish you!”

“Ooh, we’re so scared!” one of them sneered.

“You should be.”  A tall man in a white trenchcoat stepped out of the shadows.  Slivers of reflected light indicated twin blades in his hands.

“If you do not wish to be hurt you should leave de gozaru yo.”  A scruffy-looking rurouni with long red hair appeared on the girl’s other side.

“Yeah, who’s gonna hurt us, you?”

“No, me!”

Flare Arrow!

An onna-kendoka leveled her bokken at the leader…  A bolt of orange fire zipped past him, so close he felt its heat.  But that wasn’t close enough.

“Missed me!” the fox-masked hoodlum jeered.  “Like I told this loser, we ain’t afraid of magic!”

The Flare Arrow curved around and struck him square in the backside.  He turned and ran, his hakama on fire.  The rest of the gang followed him.

Kaoru turned to the intended victim.  “Are you all right… Katsu?”

“It’s a really great thing that you’re stayin’ here, Katsu!” Yahiko paused a moment from inhaling the Kurobeko’s best beef hot-pot while the restaurant’s proprietor, Yae, hovered in the background.

“So why were those guys after you?” asked Kaoru.

“It’s rather a long story,” Katsu sighed.  “The leaders of this town are corrupt politicians, more interested in lining their own pockets than in doing good for the town, and they treat the townspeople almost like slaves.  The men who attacked me, the Kenwadan, are a gang that claims to support reform and civil rights – but they are actually enforcers for the mayor and the council.”

“They are very clever about hiding their corruption,” Yae put in, “but Katsu-han has proof of their dishonesty.  He was going to publish it in an illustrated newspaper so everyone could see how rotten those men are.”

“I have the documents in a safe place,” Katsu continued, “but in the struggle last night, the key flew out of my sleeve.  The only good thing is, the Kenwadan don’t seem to have found it either.”

“It’s pretty simple to locate something like that,” Kaoru began. 

“Unfortunately, I was concerned about hostile mahoutsukai being able to find the key, so I made it untraceable by magic.”  Katsu shook his head.  “It’ll have to be searched for physically.”

“We’ll go back there and look first thing in the morning!” Yahiko promised.

“Sheesh, it’s gotta be around someplace.”   Yahiko wiped sweat from his forehead.  “It couldn’ta run off by itself.  How ’bout it, mutt, you seen a key around anyplace?”  He addressed a big, fuzzy brown dog sleeping under a tree. 

The dog didn’t move.

“Jeez, what a huge dog.  Oi, pooch!  You dead?”  He shoved at the dog.  “You hidin’ a key under that carcass?”

The dog jumped up, planted its forepaws on Yahiko’s shoulders, and swiped his face with a vast pink tongue.

“Yuck!” the boy sputtered.  “Whaddya do that for?  Get offa me, ya dumb mutt!”

The dog jumped onto Yahiko’s back, wrapping its hind legs around his waist like a child clinging piggyback.  And just at that moment Kaoru and Misao came around the corner.

“I didn’t know you were friends with dogs, Yahiko,” Kaoru teased.

“Hey, it ain’t my friend!”

“That’s right, are you the kind of person who would take good care of a dog?” Misao added.

“I ain’t takin’ care of it!” Yahiko exploded.

“They say you can’t judge a person by his looks,” Kaoru observed.  “I guess they’re right.”

“Like I said, I ain’t doing this ’cuz I want to!”

“Maa, maa.”  Kenshin waved his hands.  “Since we didn’t find the key we should go back to the Kurobeko de gozaru yo.”

“Oi, this mutt’s heavy!”

“Oh, who’s your friend, Yahiko-han?” Yae asked.

“He ain’t my friend, he just jumped on me!”

Yae bowed.  “Your lunch is ready!”

“Yum – oi, what are ya doin’, ya dumb mutt!?”   As Yahiko sat down, the dog plunked himself into the boy’s lap and stuck its nose into the gyuu-nabe.  “Hey, get your face outta my food – and your tail outta my face!”

“You really do look like good friends, Yahiko-chan,” Kaoru teased.

“And don’t call me chan!”  Yahiko finally succeeded in pulling the dog away from the food – too late.

“Orororo…”

“He ate it all…”

“Considering how used to people he is, he probably belongs to someone,” Aoshi pointed out.

“We should draw a picture of him and post it around town!” Misao agreed.

“You ought to give him a name, Yahiko-han,” Yae joined in.

“Hmm… how ’bout Notaro?  ’Cuz he lays around a lot.”

“You still haven’t found that dog?”   A shadowy figure, plump and well-dressed, growled at the fox-masked leader of the Kenwadan.

“We’ve been all over town.  Nothing.”

“If Tsukioka gets to that mutt before we do, we’ll be in big trouble.  So even if you have to uproot every blade of grass in town, find that dog!”

The Kenwadan leader bowed and left.  Removing his mask, he showed himself as a very ordinary-looking man, except for his shifty eyes.  He noticed a sign pasted on the wall.  It had a crude drawing of a big, fuzzy dog, and directions to inquire at the Kurobeko.

“Gomen nasai, Yahiko-han,” Yae bowed.  “I’m very sorry, but Notaro is causing a great deal of trouble.  He’s eating the guests’ food and he’s… not going outside when he should.”  As if to illustrate her point, Notaro lifted his leg and left a puddle at the entrance to one of the booths.”

Yahiko turned bright scarlet.  “Sumimasen!”  He tugged on the dog’s fur.  “C’mon, mutt!”

Notaro barked and raced out the door.  The shifty-eyed man saw him, and followed.

“Yahiko, have you seen my kunai?” Misao called.

“I can’t find my hair ribbon!” Kaoru wailed.

“Maa, maa, they can’t have walked off by themselves,” Kenshin soothed.  “Let’s look for them de gozaru yo.”

A search of the Kurobeko building and grounds turned up nothing.

“Do you suppose it’s a burglar?” asked Misao.

“We should be very careful from now on,” stated Aoshi.  “Though I think there may be evidence of our thief.”

Muddy dog-tracks led from the room.

They followed the tracks until they caught up with Notaro.  He led them to the garden of a deserted house.  Under some bushes they found a cache – Kaoru’s hair ribbon, Misao’s kunai, Kenshin’s spare fundoshi…”

“I’ve had enough of you, dog!” cried Kaoru.

Flare...

 Notaro turned around and dug rapidly, showering them with dirt.

“Oro?” blinked Kenshin.  “A dog can do Do Ryuu Sen?”

“He’s just pickin’ a fight with us,” Yahiko grumbled.  “Kenshin?  What is it?”  For Kenshin had gone serious, his eyes narrow and cold.

“Dirty ki… on the other side of that wall… it’s gone now.”

When they looked, there was no one to be seen.

“It was probably just one of the local toughs,” Kaoru said.  “Nothing to do with us.  At least we found our missing stuff, even if we didn’t find the key.  We’d better be getting back to the Kurobeko.  And Yahiko, you’d better find someplace else to keep that dog before Yae throws us out!”

“I can’t believe nobody’s answered our posters,” Yahiko grumbled, scuffing along the street.  “The mutt must be from another town or something.”  He heard a bark and turned around.  Notaro raced up the street toward him and jumped onto his back.  “Oi, quit it, you’re heavy!”

“Hand that dog over to us!”

Yahiko looked up.  He and Notaro were surrounded by Kenwadan.  But Yahiko Myoujin wasn’t about to be intimidated by a gang of street toughs.  “Who the hell are you guys?” he demanded.

“You don’t want to get hurt for the sake of one mutt, do you?” the leader demanded.  “Hand it over and get lost!”

For the first time, Notaro growled.

“Somethin’ tells me he ain’t your dog,” Yahiko answered back.  Notaro jumped down, bared his teeth and snarled.  “Oh, you don’t like these guys either?” Yahiko addressed the growling dog.  “Guess you ain’t as dumb as you act.”

The gang took up fighting stances.  “Show him how terrifying the Kenwadan can be!”

“Feh,” Yahiko spat, and drew his shinai.  “You guys are no match for my Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu!  C’mon, Notaro, better run for it!”

The dog beat a hasty retreat.

“Sheesh, what a time to decide to listen to me!” Yahiko grumbled.

“I hope we can find that dog’s owner soon,” Kaoru sighed.  “He’s really a lot of trouble.”

“Sou de gozaru yo,” Kenshin agreed.  “Oro?”

Notaro raced toward them, barking.  But instead of jumping on them, he seized Kenshin’s hakama in his mouth and tried to pull him back the way he’d come.

“Yahiko!”  Kenshin broke into a run, the others right behind him.

“Sheesh, those guys weren’t a match for my Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu,” Yahiko muttered as he stuck his shinai back into his hakama ties.

“I can’t believe you defeated my men so easily!” Fox-mask yelled.

“Your men weren’t any good,” Yahiko retorted.

“Then I’ll have to get serious and kill you!”  Fox-mask drew a pair of sai and advanced on Yahiko.

Yahiko’s shinai whipped out and, in an upward slice learned from Kenshin, tore the mask from his attacker’s face, just as Kenshin rounded the corner into view.

“Yahiko!  Daijoubu de gozaru yo?”

“Woof woof!”

“Hey, Notaro!”  For once Yahiko was glad to see the annoying dog.

“Yahiko, this is where you found Notaro?” Kaoru asked.

“Yeah.”  Yahiko wasn’t sure what was going on.

“Let me have your shinai a minute.”

“Eh?  My shinai?  What for?”  But he handed the bamboo sword over and watched, puzzled, as Kaoru laid it on the ground and then stepped back.

“What are you going to do?” asked Katsu.

“Just watch de gozaru yo,”  Kenshin smiled.

It didn’t take long.  Notaro picked the shinai up in his mouth and trotted away.  “Now we follow him!” cried Kaoru.

“So you think the dog buried the key around here somewhere?” Katsu wondered.  “How did you figure it out?”

“Because I’m the kenjutsu komachi!”

“Aw, you just followed him when he took your stuff,” Yahiko grumbled as Notaro began to dig.

Sure enough, the spot was another cache, containing a mateless sandal, a child’s top, a hairbrush… and a small key.

“I’ll take that.”  Katsu held his hand out for the key.  “Once the people know how dishonest their officials are… and by the way, someone posted a notice for a missing dog.  It sounds just like Notaro.”

NOTES, EXPLANATIONS ETC.

I don’t like lake dragon.  ’Nuff said. But whatever else you might say about the third season of Rurouni Kenshin, it’s great source material for Slayers ORO!

According to my reference on Japanese names, Yae is properly a surname.  But there is a very good movie, Ten to chi to (Heaven and Earth), in which a Lady Yae is Takeda Shingen’s mistress, so I have some basis for using it as a personal name.  Many-colored -beko restaurants are going to be something of a running gag.  Each is owned by a woman who looks exactly like Tae and Sae and has a similar name – and in most of them one of the copy-Katsus has taken up residence.  I suppose the joke derives originally from Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny, the identical and ubiquitous support characters in Pokemon.  (Hey, my kids used to watch it.)  And like Tae, she speaks in the Kyoto version of a Kansai accent – hence using han instead of san.

Calling the dog Notaro because he lays around a lot is from the source episode, but Media Blasters omitted to explain it in their usually better than average notes and I have no idea what it means.  I probably should have used another bunch of miscellaneous morons in place of the Kenwadan, but they make such good miscellaneous morons themselves that I couldn’t think of better ones I hadn’t already used.

Coming: our heroes return to Seyruun, only to find a city in mourning.  O-tanoshimi ni!