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tatticstudio55 · 6 years

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ARYA STARK: OF WHALES, SHELLS AND DRAGONS

In a previous post (“The scrub”), I briefly mentioned that Arya’s story arc in ACOK (and ASOS, to some extent) had some Noah’s arch elements to it. I won’t dig too far into it since others discussed this before. However, I’d like to expand on another biblical myth perhaps found in Arya’s storyline – this time in Braavos (then I’ll get to the dragon stuff).

Arya’s POV in AFFC opens with her aboard the Titan’s Daughter, as they approach the Isles of Braavos and must pass beneath the giant statue of the Titan of Braavos:

"The Braavosi feed him on the juicy pink flesh of little highborn girls," Nan would end, and Sansa would give a stupid squeak. But Maester Luwin said the Titan was only a statue, and Old Nan's stories were only stories.

(…)

"I hope your Titan isn't hungry," Arya told him.

"Hungry?" Denyo said, confused.

"It takes no matter." Even if the Titan did eat juicy pink girl flesh, Arya would not fear him. She was a scrawny thing, no proper meal for a giant, and almost eleven, practically a woman grown

(…)

Wind and wave had the Titan's Daughter hard in hand now, driving her swiftly toward the channel. Her double bank of oars stroked smoothly, lashing the sea to white foam as the Titan's shadow fell upon them. For a moment it seemed as though they must surely smash up against the stones beneath his legs. Huddled by Denyo at the prow, Arya could taste salt where the spray had touched her face. She had to look straight up to see the Titan's head. "The Braavosi feed him on the juicy pink flesh of little highborn girls," she heard Old Nan say again, but she was not a little girl, and she would not be frightened of a stupid statue. - Arya, AFFC

Arya keeps remembering Old Nan’s tale about the Titan’s eating “habits”, and even after they’ve sailed behind it, the danger of being “devoured” still linger:

"The Arsenal of Braavos," Denyo named it, as proud as if he'd built it. "They can build a war galley there in a day." Arya could see dozens of galleys tied up at quays and perched on launching slips. The painted prows of others poked from innumerable wooden sheds along the stony shores, like hounds in a kennel, lean and mean and hungry, waiting for a hunter's horn to call them forth.

(…)

The mouths of lesser canals opened to either side, and others still smaller off of those. - Arya, AFFC

That’s because Arya really is being (symbolically) swallowed by something here. The parallels with “Jonah and the whale” become a bit more apparent with these:

The galleys passed to either side of them, so close that she could hear the muffled sound of drums from within their purple hulls, bom bom bom bom bom bom bom bom, like the beat of living hearts.

(Where we get the impression that Arya’s inside some giant living creature)

A harbor was visible off to her right, a tangle of piers and quays crowded with big-bellied whales whalers out of Ibben - Arya, AFFC

It’s interesting, because Arya’s POV chapters in ACOK open with her wishing that King’s Landing would flood. During her travels in the Riverlands with Gendry, Lommy and Hot Pie, the rain pours nonstop, effectively causing a flood. In AFFC, she finds herself in the flooded city of Braavos –

Another harbor, more distant, was off to her left, beyond a sinking point of land where the tops of half-drowned buildings thrust themselves above the water. Arya had never seen so many big buildings all together in one place. King's Landing had the Red Keep and the Great Sept of Baelor and the Dragonpit - Arya, AFFC

– only this time, her life jacket isn’t a boat (Noah’s arch), it’s a whale’s belly.

The thing with being inside a “whale’s belly” is, it allows Arya to go unseen. The myth itself is generally considered a metaphor of rebirth (which I’ll get to in a moment), but the whale’s belly also provides safety and secrecy while traveling. When Cat of the canals start selling oysters, clams and cockles, she can go anywhere she wants:

"Oysters, clams, and cockles" were Cat's magic words, and like all good magic words they could take her almost anywhere. She had boarded ships from Lys and Oldtown and the Port of Ibben and sold her oysters right on deck. (…) One time, when Brea took to her bed with her moon blood, Cat had pushed her barrow to the Purple Harbor to sell crabs and prawns to oarsmen off the Sealord's pleasure barge, covered stem to stern with laughing faces. Other days she followed the sweetwater river to the Moon Pool. (…) But she always returned to the Ragman's Harbor. - Cat of the canals, AFFC

We see here that the “whale’s belly” can take other forms; i.e., a bivalve’s shell (hiding in a belly vs hiding in a shell). Indeed, there’s some textual clues here and there linking Cat to what’s inside said shell(s):

Farther down the docks she came on Tagganaro sitting with his back against a piling, next to Casso, King of Seals. He bought some mussels from her, and Casso barked and let her shake his flipper. "You come work with me, Cat," urged Tagganaro as he was sucking mussels from their shells. He had been looking for a new partner ever since the Drunken Daughter put her knife through Little Narbo's hand. "I give you more than Brusco, and you would not smell like fish."

(…)

"Which one was this, now? The Queen o' Cockles, was it?"

"The Black Pearl," she told them. Merry claimed the Black Pearl was the most famous courtesan of all. "She's descended from the dragons, that one," the woman had told Cat. - Cat of the canals, AFFC

In the first citation, we have Tagganaro trying to “slurp” Cat from her shell, same as he’s doing with his mussels, and in the second, the “Queen o’Cokles” (a courtesan, but it could also be applied to Cat, oddly, especially since moments before Cat was asked by another sailor how much she wanted for the “cockle between her legs”), named after what’s found inside cockles (pearls). The “Black Pearl”, actually, symbolizes Arya Cat very well here, because that’s essentially what she is (a black pearl hidden inside a shell/a princess hidden inside a whale’s belly).

Which brings me to my third tinfoil word cake: any other “black pearl” inside its shell in asoiaf? How about Drogon’s egg?

She chewed on her lip, hoping. If I had wings I could fly back to Winterfell and see for myself. And if it was true, I’d just fly away, fly up past the moon and the shining stars, and see all the things in Old Nan’s stories, dragons and sea monsters and the Titan of Braavos, and maybe I wouldn’t ever fly back unless I wanted to. – Arya, ACOK

I’ve mentioned before that the story of Jonas and the whale was generally accepted as a metaphor for rebirth. In “The scrub”, I talked about the parallels between the hatching of Dany’s dragons, Dany’s metaphorical rebirth, and Arya’s rebirth beneath the burning shed. I think Arya is a dragon-like figure: she’s dangerous, deadly and magical. And she hasn’t hatched yet.

Let’s admit right off the bat that there’s something witchy about Arya, even if we disregard the whole faceless man thing: in AGOT, she has this thing with a black cat. In Harrenhal, ACOK, she practices sword fighting with a broomstick. Eats worm. Think of herself as the “ghost of Harrenhal”. Mingles with brews and potions (starting with the conspicuous “weasel soup” in Harrenhal, then at the House of Black and White with the waif). Does most of her “mischiefs” at night. In ADWD, the waif gives her a face with a wart that sprouts black hairs.

And shaves her head, too, like a certain someone named “Egg”.

Then there’s some interesting references to dragons (or water dragons, as Arya is more a creature of water than fire):

Slender boats slid in and out among them, wrought in the shapes of water serpents with painted heads and upraised tails. Those were not rowed but poled, she saw, by men who stood at their sterns in cloaks of grey and brown and deep moss green. – Arya, ACOK

The men wear cloaks of “grey”, “brown and deep moss green” – Arya’s colors. Grey is a color of house Stark. Arya thinks of herself as an “oak tree” in ASOS after being garbed in brown socking and a green dress (and seems to associate with trees in general). Back in the Riverlands, she tries to find her way North by the “way” the moss grows on trees. Several times.

The mists gave way before them, ragged grey curtains parted by their prow. The Titan's Daughter cleaved through the grey-green waters on billowing purple wings.

(…)

Two galleys had come out to meet them. They seemed to skim upon the water like dragonflies, their pale oars flashing. - Arya, AFFC

Arya’s “Needle”: in ACOK, Rhaegal’s teeth are compared to needles:

Beneath Dany's gentle fingers, green Rhaegal stared at the stranger with eyes of molten gold. When his mouth opened, his teeth gleamed like black needles. – Daenerys, ACOK

But as we said, that part of Arya remains dormant for now. In AGOT, we get Doreah’s story about the origins of dragons: the moon was an egg, it came too close to the sun, cracked open, and dragons poured from it. Fast forward to Arya’s POV chapters in AFFC, where the moon is omnipresent:

That is the Temple of the Moonsingers."

It was one of those that Arya had spied from the lagoon, a mighty mass of snow-white marble topped by a huge silvered dome whose milk glass windows showed all the phases of the moon. A pair of marble maidens flanked its gates, tall as the Sealords, supporting a crescent-shaped lintel. - Arya, AFFC

(…)

"All men must serve." And so she did, three days of every thirty. When the moon was black she was no one, a servant of the Many-Faced God in a robe of black and white. She walked beside the kindly man through the fragrant darkness, carrying her iron lantern. She washed the dead, went through their clothes, and counted out their coins. Some days she still helped Umma cook, chopping big white mushrooms and boning fish. But only when the moon was black.

(…)

One time, when Brea took to her bed with her moon blood, Cat had pushed her barrow to the Purple Harbor to sell crabs and prawns to oarsmen off the Sealord's pleasure barge, covered stem to stern with laughing faces. Other days she followed the sweetwater river to the Moon Pool. - Cat of the canals, AFFC

And speaking of menstrual blood, it’s brought up again later in Cat’s chapter:

The other whores said that the Sailor's Wife visited the Isle of the Gods on the days when her flower was in bloom, and knew all the gods who lived there, even the ones that Braavos had forgotten. - Cat of the canals, AFFC

The moon is obviously linked with feminity and fertility here: as the kindly man tells Arya when she first sets foot in the House of Black and White, “Many have served Him of Many Faces through the centuries, but only a few of His servants have been women. Women bring life into the world. We bring the gift of death.” (Arya, AFFC) Hence, Arya only returns there when the moon is black (when her feminity “disappears”). Cat’s life at the canals revolves around the moon’s cycle: Brea’s moon blood brings Cat at Purple Harbor and to the Moon Pool. The black moon brings her to the House of Black and White. Notice that Cat doesn’t sell clams and oysters and cockles in Purple Harbor. She sells the bigger, fancier fish, the kind that doesn’t hide inside shells. Each time the moon “bleeds”, Cat gets a bit closer to hatching. Then, around the end of the chapter, we get this:

The swollen red sun hung in the sky behind the row of masts when Cat took her leave of the Happy Port, with a plump purse of coins and a barrow empty but for salt and seaweed. - Cat of the canals, AFFC

Maybe it’s just me overthinking it, but “swollen red sun” reminds me awfully of a pregnant woman’s belly, one that’s nearly full to burst, like the “plump purse of coins” Cat carries. We also had an “injured” (swollen/bruised), blood red sun in AGOT, the night Daenerys miscarried Rhaego:

Outside, the sun was low on the horizon, the sky a bruised red. – Daenerys, AGOT

And this would’ve been the moment where Daenerys and Arya slipped. Daenerys’s mistake was believing that she was sacrificing a horse in exchange for her husband’s life. Arya’s mistake was killing Dareon:

"Dareon is dead. The black singer who was sleeping at the Happy Port. He was really a deserter from the Night's Watch. Someone slit his throat and pushed him into a canal, but they kept his boots."

"Good boots are hard to find."

"Just so." She tried to keep her face still.

"Who could have done this thing, I wonder?"

"Arya of House Stark." She watched his eyes, his mouth, the muscles of his jaw. - Cat of the canals, AFFC

Daenerys and Arya are both given a bitter, milky beverage to drink:

She tasted sour milk, and something else, something thick and bitter. – Daenerys, AGOT

On her way across the city Arya had wondered what the kindly man would say when she told him about Dareon. Maybe he would be angry with her, or maybe he would be pleased that she had given the singer the gift of the Many-Faced God. She had played this talk out in her head half a hundred times, like a mummer in a show. But she had never thought warm milk.

When the milk came, Arya drank it down. It smelled a little burnt and had a bitter aftertaste. – Cat of the canals, AFFC

Basically, this is Arya’s first “failed” hatching. Milk is a liquid strongly linked to motherhood. Here, the milk is spoiled, which may or may not indicate a failed attempt at giving birth.

Overall, where Daenerys is a mother figure, Arya is the child, the dragon hatchling looking for her mother:

It was the other dream she hated, the one where she had two feet instead of four. In that one she was always looking for her mother, stumbling through a wasted land of mud and blood and fire. It was always raining in that dream, and she could hear her mother screaming, but a monster with a dog's head would not let her go save her. – Arya, AFFC

Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that Dany and Drogon are separated from each other around roughly the same time where Arya dreams of her mother at the Red Wedding. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that Arya’s looking for her mother in a “wasted land of mud and blood and fire”, whereas Drogon was born in blood, fire, and right by the Red Waste. This is all very intriguing. But anyway, I’ll conclude for now with a quote from our favorite witches and wizards’ story:

"Never tickle a sleeping dragon"

#arya stark #daenerys targaryen #arya and daenerys parallels #ASoIaF

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gabriel-gabdiel · 3 years

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【Draft】Rurouni Yahiko Chapter 55: The Swordsmanship Bible

The Faceless shows off the best of world-class swordsmanship against Yahiko’s kendo. How will the Tokyo Samurai Descendant get out of this predicament?

The rest of the chapters of my Rurouni Kenshin fan fiction are available here. Enjoy.

Earlier, before Yahiko Myojin went to the Yokohama Chinatown...

To be more specific, Yahiko Myojin was invited by Satsuki "May Brooks" Sakaguchi and others to join the Musou Madden School 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 should fulfill the role of bodyguard in order to defend yet another V.I.P. (Very Important Person) with connections to the Meiji Government.

Maybe he shouldn't go since it was none of his business really, but then again he reasoned that dealing with things that wasn't any of his concern was how his idol, Kenshin Himura (now Kenshin Kamiya) lived his life.

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 was "disguised" currently as a man but was actually the female assassin of the Hidden Christians, Kaede Morinaga.

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 he identified as a boy—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. Or the Battousai of Speed. 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 part of Kenshin.

On the other hand, this was the same person (albeit with a different personality) who 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 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 long 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.

"Kaede-chi," Minoe answered in kind, referring to his split personality Kaede Morinaga. "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 also upset he betrayed Amakusa Shogo-sama and the Hidden Christians."

Oh, that was right. They—Kaede and Minoe—also called the Mimawarigumi Battousai and the Kagemusha (literally Shadow Warrior, but in context it meant Doppelganger) because back when he was with the Hidden Christians, he served as Shogo Amakusa's body double.

They were the split personalities of the person before him. One male, one female. One meek as a sheep the other as aggressive as a wildcat. They were like night and day.

What happened to Minoe or Kaede for him or her to end up becoming two people in one body? Or more, if the Battousai of Speed could be considered a separate person as well.

Moreover, Kaede had lingering resentment over Kinta Minakata.

Apparently, the Mimawarigumi Battousai (yes, she and him were both Battousai clones) had betrayed the Kakure Kirishitan (Hidden Christians) about more than half a decade ago, while the Kenshingumi were dealing with Enishi Yukishiro and his Jinchu (Earthly Retribution) against Kenshin.

"Hey. Why are we whispering?" asked the Clueless Gan.

Ugh. Oh right. Gan was there with them. The freeloading oaf who'd been following Yahiko throughout his Musha Shugyo (Warrior Pilgrimage) since they first met in Shinshushin.

***

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 material that are far too many to mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.

***

Chapter 55: The Swordsmanship Bible

***

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.

They'd been through a decade's worth of adventures in just a little over a month or so, if felt like. They dealt with pirates, ronin, and bandit kidnappers, among many other incidents.

They were the Sanbaka (Three Stooges). Who even came up with that insulting name anyway? He already forgot. Was it Gan or...?

Never mind. He had something 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 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. Yeah, that old running gag. "Be serious for a minute here."

It was Gan's turn to rub his bandanna-sporting head. "You 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."

"Well, I guess you're right," conceded Yahiko. "But still..."

Gan and Minoe exchanged knowing looks. The bigger lout then said, "But you can't leave them alone because Kaori-neechan's family friends might get hurt, right? You just can't leave well enough alone. 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? Like ol' time's sake. Okay, not exactly, since the Shinshu debacle happened literally just a month ago. But still...!"

Gan gave Yahiko a firm, "No." He then appended, "Wait, that was a month ago? It felt like 18 years ago."

"Eh? Why not?" asked Myojin. "Helping people out with violence is literally what we've been doing all this time!"

Snorting with enlarged bullish 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 those guys! I don't work for free, ya know!"

Oh. That was right. 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 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."

Yahiko almost felt his brain leak out of his ear canal from hearing that haphazard mixture of metaphors together. "Ah, Gan. I don't think that's how the saying goes."

"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 (Yahiko)?!"

"You've opened this can of worms. Now lie in it, Gan-chi."

To his fellow Sanbaka's surprise, it was a smiling, giggling Minoe who said that.

***

Back at the fight between The Faceless and Yahiko Myojin inside the room just next to the office where the Mimawarigumi Battousai and the Prodigal Son were having their own face-off...

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 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 was forced to halve its power with a premature floor hammering and retreat using 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 careful 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 from the get go.

This teenaged samurai wannabe actually had the gall to try and break his rapier in two with his inferior blunt sword! Imagine that!

He knew the reverse-edged sword shouldn't be able to break apart his rapier due to its superior high-grade steel, but this kid could make the floor explode with a swing of his weapon.

If this impudent kid were to hit his rapier just right with his blunt sword just right at its flattest, thinnest 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. He 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.

As though it were made of higher-grade western steel from the iron-rich countries of Europe or something.

Beat. Parry. Thrust. Over and over. It was a simple technique that should've been easy to counter since you saw it coming.

However, 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.

He 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. He played around with Yahiko like they were having a sparring session.

Like he was a mere sparring partner. Like he were studying a swordsmanship clinic under this gaijin who did the most basic forms of swordsmanship yet could land on him at will.

If it weren't for the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu ougi (succession techniques) of Hadome (Sword Halt) and Hawatari (Sword Crossing), he'd be dead by now, if not in critical condition.

Nevertheless, je could only use the cross-wrist parry for so many times before an enemy could figure out a counter to it.

He 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, mask-wearing man reminded the Tokyo Samurai Descendant of Aoshi Shinomori's right-hand masked man—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 samurai kid before responding, "Myojin Yahiko. Remember the name!"

"Terribly sorry. 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 lesson 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 his sparring partner and get within 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 rhythm in him. Like a dancer, he could time Yahiko's every strike then 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 samurai kid at bay, measuring their distance from each other every time.

His legs also circled and pivoted away from harm before the sakabatou could even touch him, on top of his lead sword hand parrying any other strikes that got past his legwork and bodywork.

This fight made John Rathbone—the duelist fencer personality of The Faceless—reminisce on how the Mimawarigumi Battousai countered his fencing with his own pure skill.

This boy was too inexperienced to figure out Rathbone's swordsmanship style.

However, he was skilled enough to avoid getting finished off by John's riposte. That parrying movement from his crossed wrists deflected his rapier stabs as much as the reverse-edged sword's own parries.

Furthermore, unlike many of his victims in the past, the kid seemed extra skilled at dodging sword thrusts. Like he'd been practicing against this very specific technique.

John marveled at how the kid's tenacity and his best technique—this cross-wrist martial arts block followed by a riposte—kept him from getting skewered when push came to shove.

Rathbone sneered. Yahiko couldn't keep up with the fencer's pure blade techniques, so he had to resort to parrying and riposting himself to survive.

My, my. This kid might prove himself as interesting a fellow as the Kagemusha himself. He was able to push him to an impasse.

'What an excellent Parry Riposte, even though his parrying technique is... unorthodox, to say the least. He's quite the blade catcher. Hmmm. I wonder if he could catch blades with his bare hands. I've heard Japanese swordsmen doing that before.'

The boy was even able to put a scratch on his mask and clip him to the abdomen with what could've been a rib-smashing body blow.

Enough fun and games though. The Faceless had a job to do.

To defeat the Parry and Riposte, one had to do a Compound Attack, otherwise known as a series of Simple Attacks timed with feints to open the defender up to a mistimed parry or riposte that left him vulnerable to the follow-up attacks.

Those were the mind games afforded by the Tactical Wheel that left even the Mimawarigumi Battousai stumped and confused.

It was like a game of Rock Paper Scissors wherein each item defeated the other. However, this time around it was Simple Attack beaten by Parry and Riposte beaten by Counterattack beaten by Simple Attack.

Just as Yahiko feared, his one counter to John's Beat Parry Riposte sequence that let him survive that long soon became too predictable.

Thusly, Rathbone tricked Yahiko into doing the Hadome too early in order 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 wrists gushed with his own blood after all the parries he done against John's naked blade with his uncovered hands and arms.

'...Dammit! This masked man is 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 been predictable to the gaijin swordsman up to that point.

Nevertheless, as John Rathbone was about run his rapier through in the defenseless Myojin's wide, bugged-out eyes, they then both heard a banshee wail echo across the room from all four corners of it.

Like screeching widows crying at a battlefield filled with their husbands' and sons' corpses.

***

Back outside the affiliate offices of Minakata Pharmaceuticals 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 was on fire though.

She looked over her shoulder. There stood—or rather, crawled—the goggled brigand member, looking like a walking bug with his 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, she hissed athim, "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 naked blade that would've punctured her eye. The strain from her effort took her breath away, with her back screaming in agony for her 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 Fake Battousai Group murdered 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 mass murder.

Wait. No. She had enough of men saving her from other men.

She should've been the one to confront Keisuke and his fellow criminals by herself.

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. She had to cut him down.

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 Kyoko.

She tried pushing the ninja away from the compound 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, swinging around with his 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, it 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, the Aoitsuki O Tsuku Nari (Blue Moon Slash) 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 Ninjas,' 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.

How dare he.

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 sheathe her grandfather's sword as Kai threw a rope spear to her neck.

She then deflected the follow-up projector 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 rope across her small body.

She fell to the ground, practically hog-tied by Hidaka, who pulled the cords tight enough to make her trip on 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 to the roof, with the intention to hide inside the ceiling in order 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 was still inside the building. She didn't want Lieutenant Satoru Sakaguchi ending up stabbed from behind by this nimble, rope-climbing shinobi.

"Stop? No. I'm sorry, young lady. 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, that was when Kyoko attacked him, maneuvering her grandfather's blade in a way to cut through the tight bonds on her arms, hips, and legs.

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 had the gall to play possum against him, huh? Right after he decided to spare her life and all too!

Hidaka pulled and retracted the rope spear he shot into the roof, turned, and aimed it at the foolish teenaged girl running towards him with malice in her heart.

***

Back at the main office of the moneychanger building...

Books flew from the bookshelf. Papers scattered across the floor. Vases shattered. Tables were broken in half. Every inch of the walls and floor got marked up by deep cuts and slashes, as though an ax murderer was on the loose there.

Most importantly, blood was spilled. Piles of bodies and limbs were strewn about for good measure. The several of the surviving bodyguards had long ago fled.

What a messy reunion Kinta and Takuto Minakata were having. Their sibling rivalry went to another level of violence even though mere minutes ago, they were mere strangers.

The Battousai of the Mimawarigumi lived up to his ruthless reputation that earned him the same nickname as the Battousai of the Ishin Shishi then and there by absolutely confounding the invading foreigner 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.

While Yahiko underwent a western swordsmanship clinic under the "tutelage" of The Faceless at the room next to the office they were occupying, so too did Kinta Minakata "school" his estranged younger brother about the ins and outs of Japanese swordsmanship or kenjutsu.

A samurai clinic for kenjutsu and how much faster it was than westernized swordsmanship, if you would.

"Shit," said a bloody Lucas Grant as he spat out blood from his busted lip that was clipped by his big brother Kinta's blinding quickdraw moves with his sword. It was called "Iaijutsu", if Lucas remembered correctly.

Once upon a time, Lucas was supposed to be named Takuto Minakata himself ("Minakata" instead of "Akahori" because Kinta's father, Azuma Akahori, married into the more prestigious Minakata Family).

Lucas 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 or two handed.

He took full advantage at how his bastard sword was a hybrid between the one-handed sword and the two-handed longsword.

Ordinarily, this would've allowed him to chop apart and through anyone before him like a butcher would to hanging pigs at the slaughterhouse. They weren't able to predict his wild slashes as they came at varying speeds and strengths.

The two-handed slashes were stronger and bone cutting. The one-handed slashes were faster and flesh cutting. He also did feints for good measure in order to deal with the likes of his master, The Faceless, whenever they sparred.

On top of his whirling dervish of cold steel death, Lucas 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 hammering weapon.

The handle itself could block his brother's katana cold like piece of steel pipe.

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 was going to attack or draw out a counterattack that he'd counter in kind.

However, despite the many dimensions to his swordsmanship that was 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 (which was even bigger than Rathbone's rapier) was stronger than even his Japanese blade made of high-grade foreign steel, Kinta dispensed with parries and dealt countless ripostes instead.

If he had to parry, he parried the heavy longsword by the flat of the blade instead of its edge to prevent its thicker part from hammering and shattering his sword the Akatsuki (Red Moon).

Unlike Lucas's bastard sword swings that varied in rhythm and speed, all of Kinta's supersonic swings varied in strength instead. They were all so fast 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 whole seconds.

This gave the Kagemusha plenty of opportunities to 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 because his brother bled on him.

Also, Lucas couldn't land a significant blow on Kinta at all. At least when he sparred with The Faceless, he was able to land once or twice. He couldn't catch his big brother 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 Kagemusha.

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, Lucas 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, his every wild slash that missed him by inches or centimeters felt 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 traffic of a busy highway, dodging 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 was a cockroach or a dung beetle. "And you, you're the one among the Minakatas that I want to kill the most. You 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 banker truly was toxic sewage water personified. Pure garbage. A narcissist who valued his life over others.

Lucas was so disgusted by the display that he knocked out the bodyguard thrown towards him to spare his life. His life was much more valuable than the pig that used him as a meat shield to save his own hide.

Grant's one regret was all the collateral damage he had to go through in order to finish off the family who betrayed him and his mother.

In the background, Tatsuya Minakata—the uncle to both of the half-brothers—allowed himself to relax and put away his pistol. As insufferable as his nephew Kinta was, he was nevertheless doing short work of his sister's other brat.

However, he kept his grip on the gun regardless because he definitely felt that something was amiss.

The one who ended up out for revenge and hired the Brigands Guild in order to kill the members of the Minakata Family off. As if the fact that he was born at all as a bastard of some gaijin invader wasn't troublesome enough to the Minakatas on its own.

It figured that the forbidden... no godforsaken baby who brought shame to their family was back to pull them further into misfortune and despair. This lovechild of his sister was nothing but bad news.

His sister should've miscarried that devil of a bad seed of hers if he was going to be this much trouble in the future. They should've nipped it 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 more than 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 this 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, Lucas looked strangely calm (if a bit annoyed). Like he was used to being in such a sorry, injured state.

Like he 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 and ruthless businessman eyed the nearby exit. It wasn't all that far away, but while Lucas was there, that door 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 prepare himself 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 stabbed Lucas Grant barely fazed him. Like he'd been pelted with pebbles or pricked with needles.

He wished he could do more to help, but this Takuto person seemed used to catching blades from out of nowhere. Like he was used to the shadowy tricks of ninjutsu (way of the ninja).

It must've been through Grant's training with The Faceless, who seemed like the western version of a Japanese 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 Lucas's bastard sword, something rather stress-relieving happened.

Grant's handle block of the second attempt at the Blue Moon Slash (a double Full Moon Slash a fraction of a second apart from each other) would've finally allowed him to just grab hold of his tired brother and stab him to death.

However, fortune smiled on the Minakatas once more as one of the Three Demons appeared out of nowhere and blasted the lanky Lucas 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 were having their own duel...

A large, 6-foot-something barreled through the wall like it was made of cardboard with a crash worthy of a full-powered Dou Gami.

This allowed Yahiko to roll away from the thrust to his eye, the rapier clipping his eyebrow and temple, before he made a mad dash and scramble towards Kenshin's sakabatou.

Of course, he also had to stare slack-jawed at what happened first, 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 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 loony with the rapier 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 both hands 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. He was decked in blood-red clothing and armed to the teeth with various swords, daggers, shuriken (ninja stars), and various 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 had 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 bit of a lisp to his speech.

"Good," the solemn one of the trio, the one with the bat mask, tersely said. "You're supposed to do that."

The third man, 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, sss-Zan!" rebutted the ninja snake man named Ren, only to end up face-to-face with The Faceless.

"Oh, so the Minakatas had ninja backup aside from their usual collection of useless cops and hired guns and swords," said John Rathbone, his rapier at the ready as he did 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 one ninja guy they described in the briefing that swung around with a 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 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 seeing yet another masked ninja in front of him. However, this one wore the traditional ninjutsu cloth mask over the mouth rather than the elaborate costume mask of the other three shinobi.

"Oh good! One of you (the Minakatas' bodyguards) survived!" said the white-haired ninja who appeared out of nowhere, seemingly emerging from the shadows like how one would slowly fade out of existence in the darkness but in reverse. "Help me get evacuate the Minakatas out of these office!"

Huh. There was something mighty familiar 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. Maybe he was missing Tokyo a little too much.

"Uh, okay," said Yahiko, who then saw a sweaty Kinta and, uh, a trembling Uncle(?) Minakata follow behind this new ninja guy.

For some reason, the infamous Mimawarigumi Battousai and Shogo Amakusa's doppelganger looked pretty winded. Like he just ran a marathon.

"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."

"Oohh."

Kaita shook his head. He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. 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 (Master 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 Satsuki 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 was against his foreign half-brother.

As Yahiko escorted the Minakatas along with Kaita 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 to protect them from assassination.

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 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 nearby 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 offices of Minakata Pharmaceuticals in Chinatown...

'No,' Kyoko Sakaguchi thought with a grimace. It wasn't supposed to happen 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? Could she never catch up against the more talented students of Musou Madden Ryu like Satsuki Sakaguchi or Kinta Minakata?

Was she always going to be a victim? Was she forever defined by the moment when the late Keisuke assaulted her and hurt her father?

'She's being too impatient,' thought Kai. 'She's rushing in and forcing her attack when quick-draw strikes are all about patience and timing. Just like an impatient child. Or an emotional woman.'

"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.

Identifying the sudden burst of speed, even if it was just slightly faster, 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 was going to get ripped off of 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, sidestep, jump back, and 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'm short of breath. My arms and legs feel so heavy they feel like someone else's. My thoughts are muddled. 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 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.

He swung around the trembling girl then tired 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 offices of Minakata Pharmaceuticals in Chinatown...

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 small lantern to light their way.

"Hey, Sanada Kaita. Where are we?" asked Myojin.

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. Historically, we got the name of our clan from him in honor of him."

"No way. You're pulling my leg!"

"...."

Yukimura or Nobushige Sanada was a famous Japanese samurai warrior of the Sengoku (Warring States) Era. He was especially known as the leading general on the defending side of the Siege of Osaka.

He 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!

Yahiko blinked 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?'

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 defeated, and Shiro was executed at the age of 17.

As though Shogo was the grown-up version of that 17-year-old saint.

Could there be a connection?

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.

Kaita, Kinta, and Yahiko were used to the smell, for good or for ill. Tatsuya felt like puking then and there.

The smell of blood and cut meat. They truly were dealing with butchers, weren't they?

"There shouldn't be more than three Brigands in this building," 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 or the Juppon Gatana here!'

Kinta's eyebrows furrowed. "Something is amiss."

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 girl that would become her sister.

May Brooks was her birth name but she looked ecstatic when Grandpa Genzo had her put in the family registry as Satsuki Sakaguchi instead.

There was also Chizuru Raikouji, who was her big sister's rich best friend that wasn't at all like the rich kids and adults 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 was a soft-spoken yet dependable sort of man in contrast to her headstrong mother that kind of reminded her of Chizuru.

No wonder their family friend Chizuru and Nonoko got along famously. Like two peas in a pod.

She vaguely remembered her grandfather not approving of 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 eyes saw a flabbergasted Kai scrambling back to his feet. "What was that slash...!?"

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 was torn in several places, but he was otherwise all right.

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."

***

Lucas 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 at their sword battle 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.

It was 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?"

"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 he looking at? What was going on here? Ah, it didn't matter who this clown was. Or that he talked with a strange lisp. What mattered was that he was in the way.

He was in the way of his revenge against the evil Minakatas and like the 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 of a landslide that buried him anew in plaster and wood as well as earth, rock, and tiles.

Huh. His mission of revenge in Japan was going to be tougher than he thought.

The whole room shook from the resulting explosion that Lucas jumped and rolled away from.

He grinned. 'Interesting.'

***

Before Lieutenant Satoru Sakaguchi went back outside to save his daughter from being lynched by the Brigands Guild's Kai Hidaka...

"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 on one of the guards he was with.

The quartet of Yahiko Myojin, Kaita, Kinta Minakata, and Tatsuya Minakata were 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 it. Perhaps it was taught to them by that acrobatic ninja in their ranks? Or maybe The Faceless himself had a ninja disguise and training.

"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. This was before he 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 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's called the Mimawarigumi Battousai.'

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 blades served as tags or markers for both Yahiko and Kinta to take the remaining turncoats out with sword slashes, scabbard strikes, and pummeling handle strikes.

This ninja with the cloth mask and white hair was a pretty dependable person himself. Like a male Misao Makimachi or something.

It was here that Kinta noticed the strange blade of the young man. 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."

"'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'."

Kinta then asked Satoru, "Where's Kyoko?"

Satoru answered, "I left her outside with the perimeter security guards." The color from his sweaty, 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 to 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

#rurouni kenshin #るろうに剣心 #rurouni yahiko #るろうに弥彦 #fan fiction #fanfiction.net

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