Part VII: Storm

     Kenshin stared at the two women, both of whom represented a lifetime of lessons.
     The doctor who loved him, his loyal friend who had seen him through many hardships, his newfound "sister" who had seen his heart, looked back at him through eyes tinged with fear but full of pride, love, and determination.  He looked away, knowing instinctively what that meant.
     The older woman who had first taught him love, shown him what happiness meant, looked back at him as well.  She'd been married to him in all ways that mattered until he thought her dead at his own hands, and now she looked back at him with an expression not so dissimilar from the other woman's.
     It was strange to see how alike they were.  Both cut his heart, for too many reasons.
     "No.  There is no choice."
     Silence fell over the room and blazing hitokiri eyes met cold, calculating ones.  Neither man looked at the women.
     "There is no choice because I will choose for us."  Megumi shook her guard off again.  "Kill me and let them go."
     "Megumidono!  No!"
     "Megumisan."  Tomoe's voice fell softly through the tension.  "There is no need for you to die.  I will go that you may go free."
     "Tomoe..."  Kenshin looked at the two women, torn between his rage and a new desperation.
     "No!  HE will choose because HE is the one that will make the kill!"  Eyes blazing, the man screeched his denial.  "If he does not choose, you all die.  It's very simple, really," Kuzuyama continued, suddenly calm again.  "One of you girls can die by the hand of the Battousai, or all three die."  He smiled, a saccharine parody of gentility.
     "There are two here who died in the Hitokiri Battousai's path."  Megumi said slowly into the ensuing silence.  It was a long shot, but...
     "Oro?"
     "What do you mean?"  The old man raised an eyebrow.
     Megumi looked at Tomoe, praying silently that she would be understood and forgiven.  "Ten years ago, Yukishiro-- Himura Tomoe died with her blood on the hitokiri's sword.  It was the end of him, too.  The Hitokiri Battousai is no more."  Megumi looked at Kenshin, her resolve not to lose this point unshakable.  She would not let the threatening tears fall.  "You have your wish.  Let us go."
     Silence was broken by a slow, high-pitched giggle.  "Ah, little doctor woman, you are wise indeed.  Yet for all your wisdom, you fail to miss the obvious, my dear."
     "Himura Tomoe who was Yukishiro Tomoe is no more.  And the Hitokiri Battousai vanished.  The fool is you!"  Megumi doubled over as the oversized guard punched her, lightly for him, in her stomach at a nod from his boss.
     "Tsk, Tsk.  They are obviously not dead.  And you call yourself a doctor.  They are as alive as you and I.  For now."
     Megumi looked down.  The snick of a sakabattou being loosened in its sheath pierced her awareness.
     "I tried," she whispered softly.
     Suddenly there was a knife in her hands, and just as quickly, it clattered to the ground next to a smaller throwing knife.
     "It doesn't count if you kill yourself, little one."  Kuzuyama smirked as he retrieved his knife and her own.  Megumi stared at it when he placed it back in her hand.
     "Now put that away, there's a good girl."
     Numbly, Megumi found herself tucking the knife back into a pocket.
     "Didn't your mommy ever tell you it's dangerous to play with knives?"  The grey-haired man shook his head sadly.  "You've been such a bad little girl.  Now I'm afraid I'm going to have to punish you."  He walked towards the trembling doctor who glared at him with hatred.
     "Don't even try!"  She looked at Kenshin who was trembling with rage as well.  His eyes glowed red in the dim light, such was the force of his anger at the self-styled businessman.
     "Yamero."  The word was barely whispered, yet somehow it echoed.
     Kuzuyama turned to look at him.  "Bad girls must be punished, Battousai.  You know that."  He turned back to Megumi.
     "Yamero."  Tomoe's voice was no louder than Kenshin's had been; perhaps because or in spite of her emotionless tone, it had all the more power.  "Let them, go.  I will stay."
     "Tomoe, don't."  Kenshin's glare had not been shaken from Kuzuyama's chiseled features.
     "Tomoesan, what are you --" Megumi was cut off by the guard's elbow and another sadistic giggle.
     "How sweet.  Our little girls would both die for the -- hehehe -- happiness of the Battousai!"
     Megumi winced as she straightened.  "Ken-nii."
     "Anata."
     The women spoke even as a red blur flashed silver at the space Kuzuyama--
     ...had just vacated.
     Megumi blinked.
     Two hands, double fisted, met forcefully with the back of the rurouni's neck.
     "Kensan!"  Megumi's doctor's instincts made her fight the beefy guard who held her back.
     "So, Battousai, you would choose me?  You think I should die?  That was not one of your options."
     "I don't kill."
     "Maybe you should."
     "Maybe I should."
     "He couldn't!"  Megumi whispered.
     "He won't."  Tomoe said as softly.
     "Go ahead then, Battousai.  Slay me!"  Kuzuyama and Kenshin circled one another as the former taunted.  "Come, show me your skills, so feared throughout that men tremble wherever you go!  Sink your blade into my flesh, hitokiri!  Live for the taste of blood again!"
     "That is not who I am."  Kenshin stood where he was, now that he knew the older man wanted him to attack.  It bothered him that the man wielded no blade -- it was not quite as easy to judge an opponent's stance if that opponent used a style so different from one's own. Then again, Sanosuke had been a powerful fighter from the first, using no real technique at all until he'd learned the Futae no Kiwami.  Still, he had been a formidable match, and the man before him had confidence that dwarfed the ex-gangster's own.
     Shoulder-length grey hair fell loosely around lean, sharp features.  Piercing eyes, pale brown in color, mocked the world from beneath thin, straight brows, accenting high cheekbones and a strong, narrow jawline.  Thin lips sneered mockingly at the three before him.  He was tall, most of a foot above Kenshin's own height, lean as Sanosuke but obviously well built beneath the expensive tan business suit that hugged his frame.
     And he wore pink socks.  Pale pink, just pink enough to deserve the name.  Somehow that seemed important to focus on, so Kenshin didn't.  He little doubted it was a ploy to distract whatever adversaries the man might have.
     Megumi noticed this at the same time Kenshin did.  "Didn't anyone ever tell him pink and that shade of tan don't go well together?"
     Tomoe looked at her as the two men circled slowly.  "Takanisan, I don't see this as time for humor.  Not with lives at stake."
     "Tomoesan, that's just it.  Please, and call me Megumi.  But it is funny.  If I hadn't run to Kensan, I might already be long since dead.  Kanryu was just as sick as this man is, but I was already in his power then and Kenshin beat him."
     "Battousai wasn't alone then, little doctor.  And four men had to die before your precious  'Ken-nii' was able to put Kanryu out," added Kuzuyama, though his eyes never left Kenshin's.  "He had his little friends, and those pathetic hirelings that turned traitor."
     "The Oniwa Banshu.  And they only 'turned traitor' because your friend Kanryu wasn't worth his words."  Kenshin's eyes burned with inner fire as he watched the taller man.
     "Say what you will.  They broke contract, and they got what they deserved!"
     "It's no wonder you and he were partners!  You're both sick bastards with no perception of reality!"  Megumi would later recognize the Sanosuke-like reaction for what it was and spend hours trying to figure out what had made her lose her cool so powerfully.  She had no idea as yet the condition the dojo had been left in, taken while the fight was at its heaviest.
     "Quiet her!"
     The guard who had been holding Megumi kicked her in the back of the knees, forcing her arms behind her and stuffing a rather dirty rag in her mouth.
     "Let her go!"
     "Yes, Battousai, get angry.  Let me see the famous Battousai rage!  I know you crave the taste of my blood on your blade for hurting your dear doctor.  She can't really be your sister, though I confess I would not be too terribly surprised to find out that the phrase 'sisterly love' had more than one meaning for you."
     Kenshin chose to ignore that remark, saying quietly, "I don't kill anymore.  I swore it ten years ago as I watched the woman I loved dying by my own sword."
     "Oh yes.  The quiet one.  I was very lucky to find her, you know.  And it was quite by accident, too!"  He turned to the older woman.  "Your brother died well.  I'm afraid I had to make it a little painful for him, but you might be pleased to know with your name on his lips."
     "You...  You didn't."  Her face was blank.
     "Oh but of course I did!  Tie her, too.  Make it tight.  We mustn't have our little cat slipping her bonds, now, can we?"
     In seconds, Tomoe was on the floor next to the struggling Megumi.
     "No, leave the gag out.  That one's too quiet for her own good."
     It was a foolish move on his part.  Megumi and Tomoe were scant inches from one another.
     Kenshin tried to think of a way to get Megumi's scalpels to her when he saw Tomoe catch his eye meaningfully, and he circled again so that Kuzuyama's back was to his captives before he attacked.
     The best bet, he knew, was something long and involved that would give the women time to do as they must to free themselves.  Both were resourceful and quick, the cat and the fox, and he was determined not to let them down again.
     He swung the sakabattou in what was for him a slow sweep, aiming for the man's legs.  It was as predictable as he'd hoped -- his foe leapt over the blade with ease, dodging the return sweep just as fluidly.  He was ready, too, as Kenshin whirled around and aimed the hilt at Kuzuyama's ribs, stepping aside neatly but thrown off balance just enough to miss his own attack on the rurouni.
     "Is this all the legendary Battousai can do?  My, but my dear friend Kanryu's reports were quiet overstated."  The sneer grew more mocking as he flashed aside, dodging another silver arc.
     Tomoe's lips were almost to Megumi's.  She eased forward another inch -- there.  She caught the gag between her own teeth and tossed it away as the younger woman thanked her with her eyes.  Since their guards had been enraptured by the fight -- Tomoe had noted they were none too bright early on -- it was easy for the two women each to bring up a leg sharply into the groins of each of their two captors.  After that, the rest was relatively easy -- by turning around they could manage to work the knots loose enough that they could move, if not escape the ropes, and before the guards could recover from the attack, they found themselves gagged in turn and sat upon.
     "He's not the best at hiring his own henchmen, ne?  Although we do have great seats, don't you think?"  Megumi muttered to Tomoe, who nodded with an ironic smile.
     "Yes, although I could do without the lumpiness and the tendency to wiggle."  The women watched the two men battling; Kuzuyama barely seemed surprised that they'd escaped, though he was trying to dodge a blade and was perhaps a little distracted.  Kuzuyama's appearance reminded her of her "Supervisor" of all those years ago, the man she had interposed herself in front of to spare Kenshin.  She had been very lucky; both men's blades had missed vital organs that day.  She could not stand the thought of his name, though memories -- the Hitokiri's last battle as such -- were engraved on her mind as firmly as stone, though twice as heavily.  He'd believed her dead, all these years...  Just as she'd thought him to be.
     And now, more than ten years later, here he was, not only not dead but more alive than he'd been most of the time she'd known him.  Only, something had changed.  The peace he'd found during their time together had altered.  Was he still the same inside or had too much happened over time?  Was the man she'd once called husband still inside he who was now rurouni?
     Or had he truly died and left a new man in his place, with all the same strength and goodness, but some deep fundamental difference?
     From her place sitting on the former guard, Tomoe turned to Megumi though her eyes remained on the battle.
     "Tell me about him."
     Megumi could only blink as she looked at her fellow captive.  There was only one way to begin.  Words from another conversation that felt so long ago came to her lips before she noticed that Tomoe's gaze had fallen on her.
     "Kensan is the hero who saved my life."