#Seta soujiro
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kenkaoshinru · 1 year ago
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RuroKen doodles ♥
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drearyrie · 9 months ago
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SOUJIRO SETA, 1996
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SOUJIRO SETA, 2023
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riewritten · 17 days ago
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MOONCHILD
Plot: The former Tenken set on a mission to visit the villages Shishio had conquered and ruined in order to come to terms with a newfound feeling: remorse—the same thing that kept Kenshin’s resolve. It is until he came to Shingetsu Village that he realized his embodiment of remorse is to be killed. How full his smile was when he encountered the vengeful girl most fitted for the task. ##
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soooo i never have any plans to continue this soujiro seta x oc story i made years ago, but since i only have a number of OC in my head, i thought of pursuing my childhood dream of finally drawing her beside soujiro:) dream come true, i guess!
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aoshilove · 10 months ago
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A short story from るろ剣+カレシ(Rurouni Kenshin boyfriends)
Published: 2016
This portrays Sojiro as a boyfriend. 😅
Has nothing to do with the original manga.
There are a lot of stories like this in the book.
I will try to scan it.
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sweet-suzume · 1 year ago
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July 19: Happy Birthday Soujiro Seta (Log Horizon)!!!!
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gladyscontrerasart · 1 year ago
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That Shishio is bitching and I love that look.
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Watsuki Nobuhiro Redesigns 3
And moving on to the Juppongatana! I hope and pray that this is the way Shishio will appear in the live action. I think this design kicks ass!!! Soujiro reminds me of Miki Kaoru from the Utena series. And finally, Kamatari, while cutter then the original, he’s more scantly clad! Wear that kimono more properly young lady/man!
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acquired-stardust · 2 months ago
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Rurouni Kenshin: Enjou! Kyoto Rinne Playstation 2 2006
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barbwalken · 1 year ago
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eternal-echoes · 8 months ago
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Kenshin and Soujiro fighting together.
I've needed this in my life!
Read the whole chapter here.
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lianlianlianlian · 1 year ago
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To me, Soujiro (Sojiro? Sojirou? soujurou? same guy) has always reminded me of a younger Kenshin. They're like two sides of the same coin, and I think the reason why kenshin gets so sad about him is because he really does remind kenshin of himself back when he was younger in so many ways, and he doesn't want to see himself in other people.
AU where kenshin accidentally-on-purpose also adopts him into the kamiya dojo found family. i love that the kamiya dojo is just. casually filled with all the people the police r hunting. Saito's headache fr fr (he probably gets invited to dinner sometimes lmao)
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darius-1 · 1 year ago
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They're here, folks!
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drearyrie · 9 months ago
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Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan (2023) • Episode 24
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aoshilove · 4 months ago
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A short story from るろ剣+カレシ(Rurouni Kenshin boyfriends)
Published: 2016
This portrays Soujiro as a boyfriend. 😅 (2nd)
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self-loving-vampire · 2 years ago
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who would you be kinning right now if not for the Sad Housekeepers and Vampires Game?
The life timeline document I'm writing actually includes a list of characters I have found relatable over the years.
One of the least Concerning names on the list is probably Kaguya Houraisan.
Other characters on the list include:
Mai Natsume (Blazblue), Rea Sanka (Sankarea), Sakura Matou and Saber (Fate/stay night), Soujiro Seta (Rurouni Kenshin), Kuroyukihime (Accel World), Rena Ryugu (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni), Asuka Shinamori (May my Father Die Soon), Violet Evergarden (Violet Evergarden), Patchouli Knowledge (Touhou), Izumi Takanashi (Working!!), Homura Akemi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)...
Likely several others that I'm not remembering too clearly, but none of them unbalanced my brain quite like Kohaku has. She's really in her own category.
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gabriel-gabdiel · 2 years ago
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Rurouni Yahiko Chapter 55: The Swordsmanship Bible
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Who can stop The Faceless and his flawless fencing technique? Also, what of the Mimawarigumi Battousai?
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The rest of the chapters of my Rurouni Kenshin fan fiction are available here. Enjoy.
First | Previous | Next
Earlier, before Yahiko Myojin went to the Yokohama Chinatown...
Satsuki "May Brooks" Sakaguchi had invited Yahiko Myojin to join the Musou Madden School dojo to help protect Kinta Minakata and his uncle from ne'er-do-wells at an affiliate company's Chinatown office.
Yahiko considered to whether or not he wanted to accept the invitation and become a bodyguard to defend yet another V.I.P. (Very Important Person) or three with connections to the Meiji Government.
Maybe he shouldn't go since it was none of his business, really.
Then again, he reasoned that dealing with things that weren't any of his concern was how his idol, Kenshin Himura (now Kenshin Kamiya) lived his life and truth.
At least that was what he told himself as the spirit-and-image of Kenshin (hidden behind an eye patch and a garish wig) looked back at him with cutely blinking innocence.
"Can you stop staring at me that way, Minoe? You're... weirding me out," Yahiko told Munenori Minoe, who "disguised" herself currently as a man but was actually Kaede Morinaga, the female assassin of the Hidden Christians.
The Battousai of Speed.
Munenori's eyes... well, eye, he was wearing an eye patch on the other eye... darted back and forth between Yahiko and the floor. "You okay, Yahiko-chi? I heard from Chizuru-chi that Marimo-chi dumped you."
"...I DUMPED HER!" yelped Myojin more defensively than he intended. He then realized he sounded more mean-spirited than he intended. He afterwards took a deep breath and revised his statement.
"I mean, no, not exactly. Nothing happened. No one dumped anyone because neither of us was involved with each other that way, okay? I just... cleared a misunderstanding, that's all. Leave Marimo alone."
"Okay," the pouty Minoe said, pouting. "Stop being mad."
"StOp BeInG MaD," mocked Yahiko with crossed arms. "I'm not even mad, stupid Minoe."
"...Anyway, are you going or not, Yahiko-chi?" asked the eye-patched male—who was born a girl but identified as a boy sometimes—with an inquisitive head tilt. "To serve as the Minakatas' extra bodyguard, I mean."
Fascinating how this seeming airhead before Yahiko was the infamous Fake Battousai. One of the strongest members of Shogo Amakusa's Battousai Group who gave even the Juppon Gatana's (Ten Sword's) Soujiro "Heaven Sword" Seta a run for his money.
On one hand, he (or she) perfectly mirrored the ingenuous, naive, and idealistic parts of Kenshin.
On the other hand, this person  (albeit with a different personality) also mass-murdered the Fake Battousai Group formed in Shinshu then almost did the same thing to the kidnapper bandits in Hiroshima.
With that in mind, Yahiko asked the ticking time bomb in turn, "Do you want to go with me to protect the Minakatas from being assassinated, Minoe?"
Taken aback by the question, Munenori went silent for a few seconds before whispering to Myojin, "I don't know. I might have to check with her. And I don't think she wants to."
"Her?" he asked, also whispering, although he already knew the answer to his question.
"Kaede-chi," Minoe answered in kind, referring to his/her/their split personality, Kaede Morinaga.
Kaede and Munenori were the split personalities of the same person before Yahiko. One male, one female. One meek as a sheep the other as aggressive as a wildcat. They were like night and day.
Myojin wondered what happened to Minoe to end up becoming two people in one body. Or more, if the Battousai of Speed could be considered a separate person as well.
"But even I'm not sure if I want to go help out Kagemusha-chi and his family either. I mean, Minakata-chi. I'm still upset he betrayed Amakusa Shogo-sama and the Hidden Christians," continued Munenori.
Oh, right. They—Morinaga and Minoe—called the Mimawarigumi Battousai another name: The Kagemusha (literally Shadow Warrior, but in context it meant Doppelganger).
Back when Kinta Minakata was part of their group, the Kakure Kirishitan (Hidden Christians), he served as Shogo Amakusa's body double.
Moreover, Kaede had lingering resentment over Kinta Minakata's betrayal. Even more so than Minoe.
Apparently, the Mimawarigumi Battousai had betrayed the Hidden Christians about half a decade ago, while the Kenshingumi were dealing with Enishi Yukishiro and his Jinchu (Earthly Retribution) against Kenshin Himura.
"Hey. Why are y'all whispering?" asked the Clueless Gan.
Ugh. Of course. Gan—the freeloading oaf who'd been following Yahiko throughout his Musha Shugyo (Warrior Pilgrimage) since they first met in Shinshushin— was there with them
***
Rurouni Yahiko
A Rurouni Kenshin Continuation Fan Fiction Story by Chester Castañeda
Here we have another session of kendo vs. fencing. Japanese kenjutsu vs. European swordsmanship. East vs. West. Also, the Sanada Sanyoukai (Three Demons) make their debut in this chapter.
Disclaimer: All characters used in this fanfic (save some others) are the rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, Viz, Sony Studios, Fuji TV, Studio Gallup, Studio Deen, and ADV. This disclaimer also covers all the other copyrighted materials that are far too many to mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.
***
Chapter 55: The Swordsmanship Bible
***
Meanwhile, back to your regularly scheduled Sanbaka program!
Yahiko Myojin really should ditch the Great (Pain-in-the-Ass) Gan, but they—Yahiko, Gan, and Minoe—were technically a trio through and through.
It felt like they'd been through a decade's worth of adventures in just a little over a month or so. They'd dealt with coppers, domestic terrorists, political assassins, international pirates, ex-samurai ronin, and bandit kidnappers, among many other folks.  
They were the Sanbaka (Three Stooges).
Ugh. Who even came up with that insulting name anyway? He already forgot. Was it Gan or...?
Never mind. Myojin had something more pressing to ask the clownish thug anyway.
"Say, Gan. You want to serve as bodyguard to the Minakatas with me?" Yahiko asked. "Just like we did with the Oyakata (Tetsuo Akahori) back in Shinshu."
"I'm having kishikan (déjà vu)," said the Goofy Gan before waving the feeling off, adding, "Oh wait, no I'm not."
"...O-kay," said Myojin, nonplussed (as in confused, not the other opposite meaning people usually associate with the word). The samurai kid rubbed his right temple as he felt a nerve or vein pulsate underneath his fingers.
"Let's try this again. Do you want to serve as bodyguard to the Minakatas with me, Gan?"
"...Oh! There it is! There's the déjà vu!"
Yahiko struck the Garrulous Gan on the noggin with his sheathed sword in order to truly knock some sense of déjà vu into him. "Be serious for a minute here."
Gan's rubbed his bandanna-sporting head. "Ya gotta admit the whole situation reeks of déjà vu. Instead of one Oyakata-dono (Tetsuo Akahori), we're dealing with a whole family of snotty rich people, Yoshi-boy (Yahiko)!"
"Well, I guess you're right," conceded Yahiko. "But still..."
Gan and Minoe exchanged knowing looks, puzzling Myojin.
The bigger lout then said, "But you can't leave them alone because Kaori-neechan's family friends might get hurt, right? You can't help yourself. You can't keep your nose out of their business."
A petulant Yahiko crossed his arms. "They asked me to help. It's not as if I'm forcing myself into the situation or anything." He then mumbled, "It's what Kenshin would've done if he were in my sandals."
Munenori chuckled and said, "Mochiron (But of course). You're such a Kenshin fanboy."
"I don't want to hear that from the Amakusa fangirl. I mean, fanboy," muttered Yahiko.
Clearing his throat, Myojin turned towards his Sanbaka comrades then asked, "So will you help me out? For ol' time's sake? Well, it's only been a month, but still…!"
Gan gave Yahiko a firm, "No." He then appended, "We've met only a month ago? It felt like 20 years ago."
"Eh? Why not?" asked Myojin. "Helping people out using violent force is literally what we've been doing this entire time!"
Snorting with enlarged nostrils, the Greedy Gan said, "Me and Patches (Minoe) offered our services to the Minakatas for money, and they said 'No thanks, we have more than enough bodyguards to spare!' The nerve of them! I don't work for free, ya know!"
Oh yeah. Akahori actually gave them a reward for saving his life.
"Come on, Gan! We saved Fukuoka City from marauding ronin (masterless samurai) and dealt with kidnappers in Hiroshima for relatively free! Do it to pay your debt to society, if not for your ongoing real-life debts!"
Gan harrumphed. "Nope. No more freebies or public service protection. Pay me in cash or pay me in food and drink. You can take one man's trash to another man's treasure but you can't make it drink."
What? "Ah, Gan. I don't think that's how the saying goes," said a nonplussed Yahiko, who rubbed his temples. Gan's stupidity actually hurt at times.  
"Whatever. We'll burn that bridge when we get there," the Clownish Gan said, which this time made even Minoe's one uncovered eye swirl in confusion.
"Please, Yahiko-chi! Make him stop!" said a teary-eyed Munenori.
With a shrug, Yahiko replied, "Figures. You're not exactly the sharpest egg in the attic." Two could play this game. This stupid, stupid game.
The Hypocritical Gan had the audacity to reply, "What in the blue blazes of hell and high water are you talking about, Yoshi-boy?!"
"You've opened the can of worms. Now lie on it, Gan-chi," To his fellow Sanbaka's surprise, it was a smiling, giggling Minoe who said that.
***
Back to the fight between The Faceless and Yahiko Myojin in Chinatown…
Inside the room next to the office where the Mimawarigumi Battousai and the Prodigal Son of the Minakatas were having their own face-off, Yahiko himself faced off against The Faceless.
A frustrated, sweat-drenched Yahiko blasted the room to smithereens with an explosive Dou Gami (God on Earth) in an attempt to distract his opponent long enough to set him up for a Tsui Gami (God Hammer).
Or he attempted to, but the strongest strike from his Revisal Techniques came on too slow and left him too wide open to counter-thrusts, so he got forced to halve its power with a premature floor hammering smash and retreat under the cover of smoke and sawdust.
Only to come across the annoying fencer yet again, whose quick footwork cut him off the pass.
The Faceless kept his guard up, measuring his opponent with deliberate sword thrusts. He wanted to do a feeling out process on the kid, but they ended up coming at each other strong at the gates.
He wanted to take it easy but the kid forced him to go all out.
The teenaged samurai wannabe actually had the gall to try and break his rapier in two with his inferior blunt sword! Imagine that!
The Faceless—right now in his duelist "John Rathbone" disguise—knew the reverse-edged sword shouldn't be able to break apart his rapier due to its superior high-grade steel construction, but this kid could make the floor explode with a swing of his weapon.
If this impudent child were to hit his rapier in just the right spot—on its flattest, thinnest, and weakest part—then maybe... No. That was hogwash. Nonsense.
But still. A distant possibility to be sure, but a possibility nonetheless.
Meanwhile, Myojin himself grit and ground his teeth together.
The samurai kid thought he could catch the swordsman flatfooted by breaking apart his sword with the God Hammer earlier, only for the rapier to prove resistant to breakage.
Beat. Parry. Thrust. Over and over. Rathbone's simple technique that should've been easy to counter since Yahko saw it coming, but it kept landing on him regardless.
For whatever reason, Yahiko kept falling for the same trio of moves.
A pause to lull the attacker to attack. A parry to the attack. A thrust immediately after the parry.
Rathbone wasn't a blindingly fast swordsman like Soujiro Seta. Or a fearsome attacker from all angles like Kaede Morinaga. He instead practiced all the basics of swordsmanship and honed them to their highest level.
The brigand played around with the young Myojin like they were having a sparring session at the dojo.Like he was a mere sparring partner.
If it weren't for the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu ougi (succession techniques) of Hadome (Sword Halt) and Hawatari (Sword Crossing), Yahiko'd be dead by now, if not in critical condition.
Nevertheless, he could only use the cross-wrist parry for so long before an enemy could figure out how to counter it.
Myojin also looked like he dove into a cactus patch with all the nicks, scratches, and flesh wounds he got from The Faceless's unbreakable steel rapier.
"Who the hell are you?" demanded Myojin. "Are you part of the Brigands Guild?"
The disguise-wearing masked man reminded the Tokyo Samurai Descendant of Aoshi Shinomori's right-hand shinobi—the late, great Hannya. The second-in-command in the Tokyo Oniwabanshu.
"I'm known by many names," said The Faceless. "But right now, I am known as John Rathbone. Delighted to make your acquaintance."
'Right now? What did this weirdo mean by that?' thought the Tokyo Samurai Descendant before responding, "I'm Myojin Yahiko. Remember the name!"
"Terribly sorry, sir. I don't make a habit of remembering the names of future victims."
"...You son of a bitch!"
In the middle of this embarrassing swordsmanship clinic was a steady beat of weak, avoidable thrusts that kept Yahiko at a distance, not unlike the flickering, long-range staff strikes of May Brooks.
So how come Myojin could counter Satsuki's strikes and go beyond her striking range but not this much slower fencer with a shorter-reaching rapier?
No, that wasn't it. That was oversimplifying things.
This assassin had a rhythm to him. Like a dancer, he could time Yahiko's every strike before his upper body swayed, ducked, and went narrow when the boy managed to cut the distance between them.
This made him difficult to hit despite having a height advantage over the shorter young man. Also, his sword thrusts kept the teenager at bay, measuring their distance from each other every time.
Rathbone's feet also circled and pivoted him away from harm before Yahiko's sakabatou (reverse-edged blade) could even touch him, on top of his lead sword hand parrying any other strikes that got past his footwork and bodywork.
The fight made John reminisce on how the Mimawarigumi Battousai countered his fencing with his own pure skill. The boy before him proved too inexperienced to figure out his swordsmanship style.
However, Yahiko had enough skill to avoid getting finished off by the fencer's riposte. That parrying movement from his crossed wrists deflected rapier stabs as much as the reverse-edged sword's own parries.
Furthermore, unlike many of The Faceless' victims in the past, the kid seemed extra skilled at dodging sword thrusts. Like he'd been practicing against this very specific technique.
Rathbone sneered. Yahiko couldn't keep up with his pure blade techniques, so he had to resort to weaponless parrying and riposting to survive.
'My, my. This kid might prove himself as interesting a fellow as the Kagemusha himself.'
Yahiko pushed Rathbone to an impasse, at least.
'What an excellent Parry and Riposte, even though his parrying technique is... unorthodox, to say the least. He's quite the blade catcher. I wonder if he could catch blades with his bare hands. I've heard of Japanese swordsmen doing that before.'
The boy even put a scratch on his mask and a bruise to his abdomen with what would've been a rib-smashing body blow.
Enough fun and games though.
To defeat the Parry and Riposte, one had to do a Compound Attack.
Otherwise known as a series of attacks and counterattacks timed with feints, it opened the defender up to a mistimed parry or riposte that left him vulnerable to follow-up counters.
Those were the mind games afforded by Rathbone's Tactical Wheel that left even the Mimawarigumi Battousai stumped and confused.
Like a game of Rock Paper Scissors wherein each technique defeated the other. However, this time around it was Simple Attack beaten by Parry and Riposte beaten by Compound Attack.
Just as Yahiko feared, his one counter to John's Beat Parry Riposte sequence that let him survive soon became too predictable.
Thusly, Rathbone tricked Yahiko into doing the Hadome too early to pry the kid's clamshell defense wide open, disarming him with the Circular Parry before he could do the another follow-up Hawatari riposte.
The sakabatou clattered uselessly on the floor. Meanwhile, the top of Yahiko's wrist guards gushed with his own blood after all the parries he'd done against John's naked rapier.
'Dammit! He's too good!' thought Myojin.
He didn't really fall for the trap. Rather, he ran out of options and the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu two-part ougi was the only thing that worked against Rathbone.
His Plan B was actually doing his Hadachi (Sword Break) shirahadori (sword catching) technique—where he caught the sword by one hand and snapped it apart in twain or at least snatched it away—but Rathbone retracted the rapier in time before he could grab it.
Did Rathbone read his Plan B too? Had his every movement become predictable to the experienced gaijin duelist even up to that point?
All the same, as John Rathbone prepared to run his rapier through the defenseless Myojin's wide, bugged-out eyes, they both heard a banshee wail echo across all four corners of the room.
Like screeching widows crying at a battlefield filled with their husbands' and sons' corpses.
***
Back outside the affiliate moneychanger building in Chinatown...
A cold air around Kyoko Sakaguchi became colder somehow, her breath fogging in front of her as she took a knee, her legs buckling from underneath her. Her back felt like it burned or set ablaze though.
She looked over her shoulder. There stood—or rather, crawled—the goggled brigand member, looking like a walking bug with his lean arms and gleaming lenses for eyes.
"Ah. An actual challenge," said he. "That was a superb sword slash. An excellent follow-through from a missed iaijutsu slash. That took me by surprise. You Musou Madden Ryu students are something else."
Resisting the urge to cry out, she hissed at him, "Who are you? Why are you after Kinta-sama and the Minakata Family?"
"...Fine then. I'll give you my name, little one. I'm Hidaka Kai of the Fuuma Ninja Clan. Regarding the Minakatas, it's nothing personal, I assure. I'm just here to fulfill a job."
"Wh-Who sent you?"
She barely deflected another rope spear with the Fuyutsuki's blade that would've punctured her eye. The strain from her effort took her breath away, with her back screaming in agony while her actual throat could only gasp for air.
"Ah, the first piece of information was free. The rest you'll have to take from me. Over my dead body." Hidaka's lengthy exhale created billowing clouds of mist that he disappeared into.
'I-If only Seta Soujiro-kun were here...!' she thought, recalling the time when she saw Keisuke and his entire Fake Battousai Group massacred in the forest. She thought, like Yahiko Myojin did, that Soujiro killed those men.
It turned out that Soujiro didn't but the duel he had with Yahiko showed that he was quite capable of such nonetheless.
Wait. No. She had enough of men saving her from these other men. In life, there rarely were any heroes to rescue damsels. Most damsels ended up victims. Dead. Or worse.
She refused to be another victim.
She willed herself to sheathe her sword, knowing her normal swords swings weren't nearly fast or strong enough to even faze the enemy before her.
Still, she had to cut him down somehow.
She wanted to be strong. She wanted to be more like her mother, her big sister, their family friend Chizuru Raikouji, or even Soujiro's girlfriend Rin Akahori.
She felt sick and tired of feeling so powerless all this time. She wanted to act. She wanted to help. This was the perfect opportunity to do so.
The Mikazuki O Tsuku Nari (Crescent Moon Slash) wasn't working against Kai Hidaka of the infamous Fuuma Clan. Or rather, it couldn't hit the acrobatic target before her.
So she tried herding the ninja away from the area with her one sword-drawing slash that was about a quarter the power of a Mangetsu O Tsuku Nari (Full Moon Slash) but was also a quarter of a hairbreadth faster.
The shinobi kept flipping away and throwing around his assortment of rope darts, rope spears, and rope grappling hooks. He also swayed his body in weird contortions that prevented the young lady from landing her signature move
Actually, that was her best move since she still hadn't mastered any advanced iaido or iaijutsu slashes above the Crescent Moon Slash, such as the Hangetsu O Tsuku Nari (Half Moon Slash) or Mangetsu O Tsuku Nari (Full Moon Slash).
Of course, doing the Aoitsuki O Tsuku Nari (Blue Moon Slash or a second Full Moon Slash a fraction of a second after doing the first one) was definitely out of the question. That was a bridge too far for her at this point.
'So this was the power of the Fuuma Clan,' she thought, her slashes unable to land. She couldn't chain her attacks as well as Sho Kojima either, so it left her open to counterattacks every time.
Kai toyed with her. Instead of doing counter slashes, he ripped her clothes apart instead to embarrass her, unwilling to hurt her any harder than the deep slash on her back.
Hidaka wolf-whistled. "You're a pretty little thing, aren't you?"
This only enraged her further, her slashes becoming sloppier as a result.
She missed him again with her quick-draw slash, not having enough time to re-sheathe her grandfather's sword as Kai threw a rope spear to her neck.
She then deflected the follow-up whiplash with her empty scabbard.
However, this time around, it resulted in her getting entangled by the rope because Kai jumped over her head then ran circles around her to lasso his bindings across her small body.
She fell to the ground, practically hog-tied by Hidaka, who pulled the cords tight enough to make her trip onto herself and lose her balance.
Hidaka harrumphed. "Jeez. Even the innocent granddaughter of a Musou Madden Ryu master is troublesome to deal with. What a fearsome iaijutsu school you have there, Missy."
The ninja warrior then shot another rope dart at the roof, with the intention of hiding inside the space between the roof and ceiling to ambush any remaining, surviving bodyguards who'd dare exit the premises.
"P-Please. S-Stop..." she begged, her eyes welling up as she crawled towards Kai like a worm. "Father is...!"
She remembered that her father went inside the building. She didn't want Lieutenant Satoru Sakaguchi to end up stabbed from behind by this nimble, rope-climbing shinobi.
"Stop? No. I'm afraid not. Apologies, milady. I can go wherever I want or do whatever I please. For I am the last of the Fuuma Ninja Clan and I have its name and reputation to live up to!"
As he rappelled upwards into the roof, Kyoko jumped up and attacked him, maneuvering her grandfather's blade in a way that cut through the tight bonds on her arms, hips, and legs.
'What the hell…?!' thought Hidaka, his slack-jawed expression hidden by his goggled mask.
She dashed towards the flatfooted Kai, quick-sheathing her sword with a supersonic "ping" sound like a gunslinger holstering his gun for a showdown.
'Huh. She has the gall to play possum against me, huh?' Right after Kai decided to spare her life and all too!
Hidaka pulled and retracted the rope spear he'd shot into the roof, turned, and threw it at the foolish teenaged girl running towards him with malice in her heart.
***
Back at the main office of the moneychanger building...
Books and ripped-up pages flew from the bookshelf. Papers scattered across the floor. Vases shattered. Tables broke in half. Every inch of the walls and floor got marked up by deep cuts and slashes, as though an ax murderer ran amok in there.
Most importantly, the Minakata bodyguards shed blood. Piles of bodies and limbs littered the landscape. Several of the surviving guards had long ago fled.
The bodyguards who didn't—couldn't—escape just became bodies instead of guards.
What a messy reunion Kinta and Takuto Minakata had. Their sibling rivalry went to another level of violence even though mere minutes ago, they were mere strangers.
However, the Battousai of the Mimawarigumi lived up to his ruthless reputation that earned him the same nickname as the Battousai of the Ishin Shishi by absolutely confounding the invading foreign bastard wielding a bastard sword before him.
A man whom he shared blood with. His half-brother from another father. The Prodigal Son of the Minakatas.
Once upon a time, Lucas Grant was supposed to be Takuto Minakata himself ("Minakata" instead of "Akahori" because Kinta's father, Azuma Akahori, married into the more prestigious Minakata Family).
While Yahiko underwent a western swordsmanship clinic under the "tutelage" of The Faceless at the room next to the office they occupied, so too did Kinta Minakata "school" his estranged younger brother with the ins and outs of Japanese swordsmanship or kenjutsu.
A samurai clinic for kenjutsu and how much faster its techniques moved compared to westernized swordsmanship, if you would.
"Shit," said a bloody Lucas, spitting out blood from his busted lip that got clipped by his big brother Kinta's blinding quickdraw moves.
This was called iaijutsu or iado, if Luke remembered correctly.  The way of the sword-drawing school.
Luke attacked with his hybrid sword at varying speeds, breaking his rhythm and the strength of his sword swings by shifting from wielding his bastard sword one handed to two handed.
He took full advantage of how his bastard sword served as a hybrid between the one-handed sword and the two-handed longsword.
Ordinarily, this would've allowed him to chop apart and run through anyone before him like a butcher would to hanging pig corpses at the slaughterhouse.
Most couldn't predict his wild slashes as they came at varying speeds and strengths.
The two-handed slashes slashed stronger with deeper, bone-cutting impact. The one-handed slashes moved faster with shallower, flesh-rending cuts.
He also learned how to feint for good measure to deal with the likes of his master, The Faceless, whenever they sparred.
On top of his whirling dervish of cold steel death, Luke could also physically assault enemies with punches with his free hand and kicks for good measure. The pommel of his sword's handle also served as a great hammering weapon.
The handle itself could block his brother's katana cold like piece of steel pipe, even.
He used his knowledge of the Tactical Wheel (taught to him by The Faceless) to the utmost in order to keep whatever enemy he faced guessing whether he went for an attack or drew out a counterattack that he'd counter in kind.
However, despite the many dimensions to his swordsmanship that proved good enough to murder most of the bodyguards the Minakatas hired, his big brother read him like an open book.
With his almond eyes wide open, Kinta saw through Grant's sleight of hand that allowed him to slip in quick one-handed slashes in between full-on two-handed slashes.
The Kagemusha also made the Prodigal Son miss the mark at every turn, thusly punishing him with either the Tsunami (Tidal Wave) of Old Moon Slashes or the bone-shuddering power of a single Full Moon Slash.
Figuring out that his brother's thicker, denser sword—also bigger than Rathbone's rapier for good measure—was stronger than even his Japanese blade made of multi-folded high-grade foreign steel, Kinta dispensed with the parries and dealt countless ripostes instead.
Whenever Luke forced Kinta to parry, the Kagemusha parried the heavy longsword by the flat of its blade instead of its edge to prevent its thicker part from hammering and shattering his curved sword, the Akatsuki (Red Moon), apart.
Unlike Lucas's bastard sword swings that varied in rhythm and speed, all of Kinta's supersonic swings varied in strength instead. They all uniformly moved so fast that the naked eye couldn't see them.
Their differences in speed between his weakest slash to his strongest slash were instead a matter of milliseconds instead of seconds.
This gave the Kagemusha plenty of opportunities to punish and slash apart the defenseless Prodigal Son—who only knew how to attack and whose best defense was unrelenting offense—at will with every swing.
Thusly, Kinta's white shirt became as pink as cherry blossoms as his brother bled on him.
Also, Luke couldn't land a significant blow on Kinta at all. At least when he sparred with The Faceless, he landed once or twice. He couldn't catch his long-lost big brother flatfooted all this time.
Thus Kinta also lived up to his other nickname, Kagemusha. Fighting him was like boxing with your own shadow. He was untouchable.
The literal son of a gun looked like he'd been scourged with whips from the amount of cuts, flesh wounds, and outright ugly lacerations he got from the inimitable shadow warrior.
The shorter Minakata manhandled the taller Grant as though their heights were in reverse and Kinta was the bigger, stronger one of the two.
Like an adult would a little kid. Or how a big brother would toy with his younger sibling.
'Dammit. Cain was right. You really are something special,' thought Lucas.
Aloud, Luke told Kinta, "Even though you're literally killing me right now, you're the one Minakata I want to kill the least, Aniki (Big Brother)."
The Mimawarigumi Battousai could only respond with a glare, his body as tense as a tripwire ready to let his sword fly at the slightest movement from the implacable man before him.
Kinta's ototo (little brother) kept on coming at him like a recurring nightmare or waves of the sea, his every wild slash that missed him by inches or centimeters feeling like it could lop off his limbs or chop his body in half. Or even in quarters.
A high-pressure offense that pushed him to the edge even though he had not been hit once.
It was like playing dodge the car in the middle of open traffic or a busy intersection, dodging high-speed carriages and wild horses at every turn. Wherein one mistake could spell the difference between life and death.
Grant spared a glance at his Uncle Tatsuya, wrinkling his nose at him like he would to a cockroach or a dung beetle. "And you, you're the one among the Minakatas that I want to kill the most. Vile scum."
Lucas remembered how Tatsuya actually hid behind one of his bodyguards and pushed him towards the Prodigal Son's bastard sword in order to escape a sword stab.
The cowardly banker truly was toxic sewage water personified. A narcissist who valued his life over others.
Right after the display, Grant merely knocked out the bodyguard thrown towards him to spare his life.
The guard's life proved much more valuable than the pig that used him as a meat shield.
Grant truly regretted all the collateral damage he had to cut through to finish off the family who betrayed him and his mother.
In the background, Tatsuya Minakata allowed himself to relax and put away his pistol. As insufferable as his nephew Kinta was, he nevertheless did short work of his sister's other brat.
So the one who ended up out for revenge and hired the Brigands Guild in order to kill the members of the Minakata Family off was the bastard of some gaijin invader.
It figured that the forbidden—no godforsaken baby who brought shame to their family came back to pull them further into misfortune and despair. This lovechild of his sister was nothing but bad news.
He wished his sister miscarried that devil of a bad seed of hers. Their family should've nipped him in the bud and had a special doctor conduct an abortion for her for good measure.
Tatsuya still had his hand on his pistol regardless. Not only because it was better to be safe than to be sorry. He felt something was very wrong with this picture. Something was quite amiss.
For one thing, his stack of bodyguards within the room had all been killed, forcing his V.I.P. nephew to do bodyguard work for them.
For another thing, the state of his swordsman nephew concerned him.
Even though he didn't get so much as a nick or scratch from all the high-pressure sword swings he narrowly avoided, Kinta himself did more than break a sweat.
He wasn't only covered with his brother's blood but also his own sweat. His breaths became belabored, as though the effort of mauling the black sheep of their family sapped him of energy.
'What the hell are you doing, you stupid brat,' thought Tatsuya, cursing under his breath as he licked his dry, chapped lips. 'Being a professional murderer is the only good thing you've done for the family, dammit! Don't go buckling under the pressure now! Our lives are at stake! My life is on the line!'
Also of note, despite all the blood loss and wounds he received care of his sibling's accurate slashes, Luke looked strangely calm (if a bit annoyed). Like he was used to being in such a sorry, injured state.
Like he was the one who was none the worse for wear. Like the sticky blood all over his body was red paint and his wounds were tiny paper cuts that mostly irritated him.
Tatsuya gulped. The lanky, reed-thin banker who doubled as a ruthless businessman eyed the nearby exit.
The door wasn't all that far away, but while Lucas stood there between him and freedom, it might as well be located in China or America.
So close yet so far.
***
In the shadows lurked Kaita of the Sanada Ninja Clan. The invisible ninja (secret agent).  
He'd thrown several kunai (daggers) at the Prodigal Son to hinder his bloody warpath, which bought Kinta time to rest and saved the lives of several Minakata bodyguards, allowing them to escape.
However, even though he kept the security safe, the two V.I.P.s he should've prioritized protecting remained in the line of fire against this crazed gaijin with his western-style double-edged katana.
Also, the kunai that slashed and stabbed Lucas Grant barely fazed him. Like he'd been pelted with pebbles or pricked with needles. Like he'd been through worse.
He wished he could do more to help, but this Takuto person seemed prepared to catch blades from out of nowhere. Like he was used to the shadowy tricks of ninjutsu (way of the ninja).
This confidence must've been through Grant's training with The Faceless, who seemed like the western version of a shinobi (spy) himself.
Regardless, Kaita had one task at hand. To keep the Minakatas safe from harm by any means necessary.
In light of how worthless the Minakata bodyguards ended up being, the young ninjutsu master ended up relieved in retrospect that he summoned the Sanyoukai (Three Demons) of the Sanada Ninja Clan to help them out.
Sure enough, just as Kinta's Akatsuki clanged hard against the handle of Luke's bastard sword, something rather stress-relieving happened.
Grant's handle block of the second attempt at the Blue Moon Slash (Double Full Moon Slashes a fraction of a second apart from each other) would've finally allowed him to grab hold of his tired brother and stab him to death.
However, fortune smiled upon the Minakatas as one of the Three Demons appeared and blasted the lanky Luke away right into the nearest wall like he was shot out of the cannon.
As though he were Marimo the Human Cannonball.
***
Meanwhile, in the next room where The Faceless and Yahiko Myojin dueled...
A large, 6-foot-something figure barreled through the wall like so much cardboard or tinder. Like a bomb suddenly went off.
This allowed the disarmed Yahiko to roll away from the thrust to his eye, the rapier clipping his eyebrow and temple instead, before he dashed and scrambled towards Kenshin's sakabatou.
Of course, at first, he also had to stare slack-jawed at what happened along with The Faceless (presumably, since he was wearing a mask and his features weren't visible).
He had no time to think about what just happened and what its implications were. He just had to act fast, trusting his instincts would steer him through.
Anyway, what the hell was that? What came crashing down the wall? A bomb? A runaway carriage?
No, it was a body. Another foreigner in a fetal position, covered in rubble, his blond hair matted with red blood.
Yahiko's eyes narrowed. The way the man crashed reminded him of Kenshin Himura's Dou Ryu Sen (Earth Dragon Flash) or his own Dou Gami (God on Earth).
Who was responsible for this?
The smoke cleared, and out came three shinobi also reminiscent of the circus freaks that were the Tokyo Oniwabanshu.
Each wore different masks, just like the walking loony bin with the rapier that defeated all of Yahiko's Kamiya Kasshin Revisal Techniques.
One wore a green snake mask and had a gaudy armor made of snake scales. He held on each hand extra-thick twin whips that were also made of snake hide, their handles adorned with snake heads and their tips adorned with snake tails.
Yes. He had taxidermy snakes for whips.
Another wore a scarlet demonic oni (ogre) mask with small horns on the forehead and spiky hair that might've been part of the mask design. Decked in blood-red clothing and armed to the teeth with various swords, daggers, shuriken (ninja stars), and projectiles, he held with him a two-pronged war fork.
The last one wore a realistic bat mask that looked like taxidermy work but its head was far too large to belong to a real bat. He sported daggers attached to the side of his gloves like fins, a black-and-blue garb that allowed him to blend into the night, and a bat-winged raggedy cape that billowed behind him.
"Yikesss. I think I overdid it with the ssshockwave," said the man underneath the snake mask, who had a lisp to his speech.
"Good," the solemn one of the trio, the one with the bat mask, said tersely. "You're supposed to do that."
The third man of the motley crew, the one with the horned ogre mask, cackled. "Baku is right, Ren. If you've actually managed to kill Lucas Grant, then our mission is complete."
"If that'sss the cassse, then ssstab him to death now, zzz-Zan!" rebutted the ninja snake man named Ren, only to end up face-to-face with The Faceless.
"Oh, so the Minakatas had shinobi backup aside from their usual collection of useless cops and hired guns and swords," said John Rathbone, his rapier at the ready as he fell into the fencing "En Garde" ready stance.
'Who are these freaks?' thought Yahiko. 'Are they more of the brigands from the Brigands Guild? They aren't as tall as the foreign invaders, so maybe they're Japanese traitors like that acrobatic ninja freak with the grappling hook and rope spears!'
However, the thing that happened next made Myojin doubt that all four of these masked men were allies. Otherwise, the Brigands Guild had a real problem with in-fighting among their ranks.
Rathbone ended up dueling all three of the demonic and/or animalistic ninjas before him, with them scattering like cockroaches then swarming him like bees from a disturbed hive.
Myojin couldn't believe his eyes. He didn't know what to be amazed at more—having these three ninjas push The Faceless to the brink or seeing The Faceless still avoid getting skewered or penetrated when faced with a triple team.
After that, Yahiko ended up bumping into another masked ninja in front of him. However, this one wore the traditional ninjutsu cloth mask over the mouth rather than the elaborate costume masks of the other three shinobi.
"Splendid. One of you (Minakata bodyguards) survived," said the white-haired ninja who appeared out of nowhere, seemingly emerging from the shadows like how one would fade or sink in the murky darkness but in reverse. "Help me get evacuate the Minakatas out of this building."
"Uh, okay," said Yahiko, who then saw the sweaty Kinta and, uh, a trembling Uncle(?) Minakata follow behind this new ninja guy.
Huh. There was something mighty familiar to Yahiko with the way this ninja came out of the blue like that.
No, it wasn't like Aoshi Shinomori's Ryusui no Ugoki (Water Flow Movement). Instead, it reminded Yahiko of another ninja he fought recently. Another invisible ninja.
Why was Yahiko feeling strangely nostalgic today? First, it was The Faceless and his stupid Tactical Wheel fencing. Second, it was this teleporting ninja. Then there was Marimo's arrival to town.
Maybe he was missing Tokyo a little too much.
For some reason, the infamous Mimawarigumi Battousai and Shogo Amakusa's doppelganger looked pretty winded. Like he just ran a marathon or something.
"What's your name, bodyguard?" asked the ninja. "You're a bit short for a bodyguard, though."
"Tokyo Shizoku (Tokyo Warrior Class). Myojin Yahiko," answered Yahiko. "Also, I'm taller than you, Shorty." Sure enough, Kaita was indeed half a foot shorter than Myojin.
'Shizoku, huh?' thought Kinta. 'So he belongs to the same warrior class as the Sakaguchis.'
"Okay. Whatever, kid. I'm Kaita from the Sanada Ninja Clan. At your service," said Kaita.
"At my service?" asked Yahiko.
"No, you cheeky bodyguard. The Minakatas."
"Alright."
Kaita shook his head and rolled his eyes. Nevertheless, he tolerated the goofy kid's naiveté. After all, out of all the bodyguards in the next room, the only one left standing was this boy.
Even though he had to face that monster. The man known by many names—The Faceless. The swordsman from another land who dueled Kinta Minakata to a draw.
Kaita then turned and addressed everyone before him. "Kinta-danna (Lord Kinta). Tatsuya-danna. Myojin-da... well, Myojin Yahiko. Follow me."
Kinta and Yahiko exchanged brief glances and curt nods at each other.
'It's that kid again. The one that Brooks-san beat at sparring,' thought the Mimawarigumi Battousai. 'She barely beat him at sparring,' he corrected himself.
"You're from a samurai family, right? Who is your father?" asked Kinta, to Yahiko's surprise.
"He was a member of the Shogi Tai and died for his beliefs," Myojin answered.
"Shogi Tai, huh? He must be a well-respected man," said the Minakata heir, to which Yahiko could only nod and answer, "Yes, he was."
To himself, Myojin thought, 'He's much friendlier than Shinomori Aoshi after all. What a nice guy, that Kinta.'
He was a hell of a swordsman too, merely judging from how untouched he remained against his foreign half-brother and his person-sized sword.
As Yahiko and Kaita escorted the Minakatas towards the exit of the building, the overwhelming stench of death assaulted them as soon as they opened the door outside the main office.
Even before the Prodigal Son had declared his war on the Minakatas in person, he and the rest of the brigands had already made short work of the army of hired guns and swords the Minakata Family got as protection.
The rusty tang of blood permeated in the air like a heavy velvet cloak of red death.
'Oh no,' thought Yahiko, a chill running down his spine. 'What happened to Officer Daddy? I mean, Kyoko's father? Also, what about Kyoko? Or Satsuki? Did any of them make it or...?'
It reminded Myojin of the massacre of the Fake Battousai Group. Or the horror stories he had heard about Makoto Shishio's Ten Swords.
According to Kenshin, they actually put a whole village under siege once just so Shishio could enjoy its hot  springs.
How was the Brigands Guild able to do this from under their noses? How many of them were inside the halls of this office? How many members did they have in the first place?
***
Back outside the affiliate building of Minakata Pharmaceuticals in Chinatown...
'No,' Kyoko Sakaguchi thought with a grimace. It wasn't supposed to end this way. After the countless hours of practice and drills, it couldn't end this way.
Was all the effort she exerted a waste after all? Was she always going to be a victim? Was she forever defined by the moment when the late Keisuke assaulted her then hurt her father?
"NOOOO!" she screamed, attempting to do a Half Moon Slash of her own, but this put severe strain on her arms, hips, and back due to the increase in centrifugal force.
'She's being too impatient,' thought Kai. 'She's rushing in and forcing her attack. Just like a petulant child. Or an emotional woman.'
Identifying the sudden burst of speed, even if it was just slightly faster than before, Hidaka responded by throwing his rope spear right into the direction of the whirling and pivoting girl.
She unsheathed the sword in time, the extra strong pull stretching her arm outward so hard it felt like it almost got ripped off her shoulder from the socket. The rope got sliced cleanly, its sharp end embedding itself into the ground with a dull thunk.
More importantly, because it was a Half Moon Slash, its striking range or area of effectiveness went further than just directly before her.
"S-So fast," the ninja couldn't help but mumble as Kyoko came at him like a streak of greased lightning.
Kai dodged the slash with an upper body sway, a side step, a backwards jump, and a swing away with a rope dart to the roof. Like he always did.
Only for his face to get sprayed with a fountain of his own blood.
"WHAT THE HELL...!?" he screamed before gurgling and choking with the red liquid.
Kyoko didn't fare any better than Hidaka though.
Every nerve of her petite body—as well as she herself with her mouth—then screamed in agony after she failed to do the proper follow-through from the slash.
'I can't breathe. My arms and legs feel so heavy they feel like someone else's limbs. And I can't even think... Father, Grandpa, Kinta-sama, help...!'
She crumpled down on the ground like cloth that fell from the clothesline, with nothing to support it.
However, her effort bore fruit. She had cut right into the vest and goggled mask of Hidaka, drawing blood from chest to neck and chin.
Any deeper, and the blade would've reached his heart and killed him. Sliced his jaw in half. Split apart his Adam's apple. Made him breathe through his neck.
This "mere" girl was a threat to his life after all. He had to finish her off.
Hidaka swung around the trembling girl then tied a noose around her neck, with the intention of hanging her like many of his other victims.
"You want a war? You're gonna get one, bitch. The Fuuma Clan wills it."
***
Back inside the long halls of the affiliate moneychanger building...
Kaita the Sanada Ninja led the Minakatas and Yahiko out of the office, which had become an unfamiliar labyrinth due to all the piled-up bodies and blood splattered all over the walls.
All the lamps were also cut down to size or had their flames put out as well, which necessitated the shadow warrior to take out a glow-in-the-dark rock to light their way.
It was a weeping stone from Okayama that "bled" blue glowing blood.
It reflected against the actual blood splattered across the hallways.
The musty tang spread all over the rooms and hallways, seemingly permeating right into their clothes. It'd take weeks to wash the smell out.
The smell of blood and cut meat. They truly were dealing with butchers, weren't they?
Kaita, Kinta, and Yahiko were used to the smell, for good or for ill. Tatsuya felt like vomiting then and there.
"Hey, Sanada Kaita. Where are we?" asked Myojin.
Ugh. This guy. "My family name isn't Sanada," answered Kaita. "Also, you talk too much."
"But you just said you're from the Sanada Ninja Clan."
"Our ninja clan was established under the Sanada Nobishige. Laymen like you know him as Sanada Yukimura."
"No way. Him? You're pulling my leg!"
"...."
Yahiko cleared his throat then nodded, rubbing his chin. "Huh. You learn a new thing everyday." To himself, he thought, 'Unbelievable. The Minakatas have historical ninja clans serving under them? It pays to be rich, huh?'
Yukimura or Nobushige Sanada was a famous Japanese samurai warrior of the Sengoku (Warring States) Era. He was especially famous as the leading general on the defending side of the Siege of Osaka.
Sanada was a historical figure like Hajime Saito was, except even more ancient. So the Sanada Ninja Clan had been serving him since the late 1500s, huh? Their clan should therefore be 300 years old!
Something else then occurred to him. All this talk of historical figures reminded him of how Shogo Amakusa himself once embraced the name Amakusa, thusly calling himself the Second Coming of Shiro Amakusa.
The infamous Shiro Tokisada Amakusa led the Shimabara Rebellion, an uprising of Japanese Roman Catholics against the Shogunate from December 17, 1637 to April 15, 1638. They were eventually defeated, and Shiro was executed at the age of 17.
Shogo seemingly became the grown-up reincarnation of that 17-year-old saint. Could there be a connection…?
"There shouldn't be more than three Brigands inside the area," Kaita reported to his master, Kinta. "Two of their members are currently in Yokohama Police custody."
Kinta nodded. "Are you sure there are only five of them?"
Kaita responded, "We've researched all the recent arrivals at the Yokohama Pier and recorded sightings of their criminal activities. There are five of them that we know of. Your half-brother, Lucas Grant. The man with many identities, The Faceless. The poison swordsman Cain Merrick. The acrobatic ninja Hidaka Kai. And the axe murderer Hugo Lentz."
'There are only five of them? And two of them are in jail?' thought Yahiko. 'Three people are responsible for this massacre? It's like we're dealing with hitokiri, the Shinsengumi, or the Juppon Gatana here!'
Kinta's eyebrows furrowed. "Something's wrong."
They then met up with a familiar face before they arrived at the exit.
***
Back outside the office...
The rope dart hooked itself unto Kyoko's shoulder, while the rope wrapped around her neck like a lasso over cattle. 'Oh no...!'
The sprain on her shoulder and the strain on her body kept her from using her grandpa's sword to cut down the rope.
Before she knew it, Kai Hidaka of the Fuuma Clan had already found a nearby tree for which to lynch her, with him using his own strength to raise her body up to hang her by her neck with the noose.
It hurt to breathe. Her life then flashed before her eyes.
She remembered playing around the dojo where Kinta Minakata practiced, admiring his perfect form and perseverance. She also recalled marveling at the golden locks of the foreign young girl that would become her stepsister.
May Brooks was her birth name but she looked ecstatic when Grandpa Genzo had her put in the family registry as "Satsuki Sakaguchi" instead.
"Satsuki", incidentally, was the Japanese translation of the month of "May".
There was also Chizuru Raikouji, who was her stepsister's rich best friend growing up that wasn't at all like the rich snobs that regularly visited the many Minakata special events and various properties across Yokohama and beyond.
She remembered her goofy father Satoru doting over her, which made her mother giggle.
He loved making her mother laugh. She even recalled how he'd call her mother embarrassing names like Princess Kaguya, Izanami, or Tamamo-no-Mae.
She had a soft-spoken yet dependable sort of father in contrast to her headstrong mother that kind of reminded her of an older version of Chizuru.
No wonder their family friend Chizuru and Nonoko got along famously. Like two peas in a pod.
She vaguely remembered her grandfather disapproving her parents' relationship, but her father won her mother over by supporting her dreams of opening her own soba shop instead of inheriting the family trade of blacksmithing and jewelry making.
'Mother. Father. Goodbye. I love you,' she thought as she drifted into the black abyss, tears falling from her eyes.
She then felt precious air to rush back to her lungs as the vise grip unto her neck loosened. Did the rope break? Did this enemy before them decide to spare her?
No, there wasn't a merciful bone in his body.
Unable to brace herself as she fell, she felt like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Afterwards, strong hands caught her in mid-fall.
She opened her eyes. First, her blurry vision saw a flabbergasted Kai scrambling back to his feet.
She blinked back tears then saw her father carrying her. Saving her once again from harm.
She smiled. "Father."
He looked scuffed-up and his disheveled uniform got torn in several places, but he looked otherwise fine.
He came back for her, even after she insisted to do bodyguard duty for the Minakatas when her whole family was against it.
He wasn't looking at her though. He instead stared straight at Hidaka, speaking in a cold voice and timber she rarely heard before.
"Get away from my daughter, you freak."
***
Luke Grant dug himself out of the pile of wood and plaster that he got buried under after something made him crash into the wall.
Dammit, and he was so close to beating his skilled half-brother through a war of attrition too! Who dared interrupt him and his long-lost brother's fateful duel?!
"Yo. I sssee that you're awake, gaijin."
Lucas shook the cobwebs out of his head, his vision finally clearing as he stared at the person who said those disrespectful yet lisped words.
He then saw a grown man wearing a snake mask and leathery body armor made of snakeskin while holding two taxidermy boa constrictor snakes as whips.
"…Who the hell are you?" he asked.
"I am Ren of the SSSanada SSSanyoukai (Three Demons). And now that you know my name, you're asss good asss dead."
What the hell was Lucas looking at? What was going on here? Ah, it didn't matter who this clown was. What mattered was that he was in the way.
Ren was in Luke's way towards revenge against the evil Minakatas and their noble demon of an heir. The Kagemusha who became their chosen one instead of him, the black sheep of their family.  
He then saw Ren whirl his snake whips in such a way that their resulting whipcrack—essentially a miniature sonic boom—burst into a huge shockwave and localized landslide that buried him anew in plaster and wood as well as earth, rock, and tiles.
The whole room shook from the resulting explosion.
Huh. His mission of revenge in Japan was going to be tougher than he thought.
***
Before Lieutenant Satoru Sakaguchi went back outside to save his daughter from being lynched by the Brigands Guild's Kai Hidaka...
The quartet of Yahiko Myojin, Kaita, Kinta Minakata, and Tatsuya Minakata strode in the middle of the lobby inside the moneychanger office when they were ambushed. By the undead. Or rather, the living dead.
As in their living traitorous bodyguard pretending to be dead, lying near the bodies of the unaware bodyguards they had killed.
Hiding behind freshly killed bodies was a classic ambush tactic by the ninjas of Japan.
Fascinating how the Brigands were able to come up with such a tactic. Perhaps it was taught to them by that acrobatic ninja in their ranks? Or maybe The Faceless himself had ninja training.
"Kinta-sama! Yahiko! Watch out! It's a trap!" a scuffed-up and disheveled Lieutenant Satoru Sakaguchi shouted out to the Minakatas and their escorts while doing battle with his saber against one of the guards he was with.
"Watch out, Ojisan (Old Man)!" shouted Myojin, who snatched out the glinting something in the darkness by reflex.
The attempted stab to Tatsuya's side was deflected by Yahiko's Sword Break technique that allowed him to catch blades with his bare hands.
Instead of attempting to break such a short dagger, the boy instead twisted and broke the wrist of the man holding the weapon. He then slammed the handle of the sakabatou into the person's throat.
Kinta himself did a destructive Full Moon Slash  that dropped multiple attackers at once, resulting in multiple sprays of blood that didn't look any different from the rest of the splatters made by the actual bodies of the dead bodyguards.
Yahiko whistled in appreciation. 'And here I thought Satsuki's Full Moon Slash was a thing of beauty! Damn. Look at how fast and smooth he drew out that katana. No wonder he was called the Mimawarigumi Battousai. No wonder he was able to defeat Kawakami Gensai of the Shidai Nikuya (Four Butchers).'
Kinta didn't even break a sweat slashing apart their ambushers.
Weird. Earlier, he looked like he ran a marathon. So he already recovered from earlier?
From what little he'd seen of him so far, Yahiko surmised that Kinta's iaijutsu style was so perfect that he used minimal effort.
Wait. What was it about his half-brother alone that tired him out compared to him easily dispatching multiple attackers?
"You bastards! I paid good money for you! Traitors!" screamed a sweaty Tatsuya, who took out his pistol and started shooting at everything that moved, which made both Yahiko and Kinta jump away from him.
As for Kaita, he was nowhere to be seen suddenly. Did he abandon them in their time of need?
Nope. Instead, unseen from the darkness, he threw his kunai at various hidden bodyguards in between panels, sliding doors, walls, and ceilings as they moved in for the kill.
These glow-in-the-dark blades served as tags or markers for both Yahiko and Kinta to take the remaining turncoats out with sword slashes, scabbard strikes, and handle pummels.
The camouflaged ninja with the cloth mask and white hair was a pretty dependable person himself. Like a male Misao Makimachi or something.
It was then that Kinta noticed the strange blade of Yahiko. A reverse-edged sword. He heard tales and rumors of his namesake, the Hitokiri Battousai, carrying such a sword.
So Munenori Minoe was telling the truth. The kid that tagged along with him did know who the real Battousai was.
Fascinating.
The Yokohama Lieutenant finally reached the quartet after dispatching the last nearby bodyguard traitor. "We were setup! Every other bodyguard in this building is working for the Brigands Guild."
"'Is'?" repeated Tatsuya before reloading his pistol, moving towards a groaning ambusher who was still alive, and shot him in the head. "Not 'is'. 'Was'. 'Were'."
Kinta then asked Satoru, "Where's Kyoko-san?"
Satoru answered, "I left her outside with the perimeter security guards." The color from his bruised face then drained, his mouth hanging open as he mouthed, 'Oh no,' but no sound came out of his mouth.
A chill traveled the back of Yahiko's head, his heart sinking. "I'm going to save her, Satoru-san!" but then he got grabbed by the shoulder. By Kinta. "Wha...?"
"Please," said the Mimawarigumi Battousai. "Take care of my uncle. I'm going after Kyoko."
Yahiko gulped and absently nodded at Kinta. He then looked over beside him, expecting to see their ninja guide, but he couldn't locate him.
The Tokyo Samurai Descendant then yelped out when Kaita chimed in from behind him, "Understood, Kinta-danna. Myojin Yahiko and I will escort Tatsuya-danna out of Chinatown."
And so it was decided that they split up, with Yahiko and Kaita protecting Tatsuya while Kinta and Satoru went straight for Kyoko.
However, even after exiting the moneychanger office, they weren't exactly home-free yet.
***
To Be Continued...
Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm also using minor Rurouni Kenshin filler episode characters along with Original Characters (Do Not Steal) to fill out the lore of this series.
However, Marimo Ebisu the Cannonball Girl did so well a couple of chapters ago that I couldn't help myself. Besides which, the Sanada Ninja Clan has been lurking around the block since the earlier chapters anyway.
The déjà vu joke from Gan is from an episode of "Friends". Phoebe says it. I also included some malaphors (the blending of idioms or clichés until they don't make sense) I've read in some meme in their dialog for good measure.
Danke, Abdiel
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