Chapter 36: Secret Sword

Raijuuta: Are you of this dojo?

Kenshin: No... I'm staying at the Kamiya Kasshin dojo just now.

Raijuuta: Really... such a skilled swordsman is a vagabond? No matter. I ask for a match. With true swords.

(Kenshin unsheathes his sword.)

Raijuuta (thinking): A reverse blade...

Kenshin: I will not draw merely to compare swords or show off. Nor to display them. The killer's sword is forbidden to me.

Raijuuta: So that's the way it is. Yutarou.

Yutarou: Yes sir.

Raijuuta: Remove this dojo's sign and burn it. I have defeated the master of this dojo. The sign is mine to do with as I please.

(General consternation.)

Raijuuta: I'll hear your objections. Settle this by coming forward.

(The students, embarrassed, avert their gazes.)

Yutarou: Then let's go burn it on the main street. Where everybody can see--

(Yahiko snatches him by the front of his shirt.)

Yahiko: That's enough, you piece of goldfish shit.

Yutarou: Let me go. Or maybe you wanna die?

Raijuuta (to the silent students): What's wrong? You don't need a sign? Feh. You're not worth my time.

Kaoru: Fine. I'll be your opponent.

Students: Kaoru?

Kaoru: I'm from another school, but I can't sit by and watch this happen to the dojo that's taken care of me. I can't stand it. So I'm answering your challenge.

Raijuuta: All right? I won't show a girl any mercy.

(Kenshin steps in front of her.)

Kenshin: I know... I'll be your opponent. But as this is for the dojo, our weapon is the shinai.

Raijuuta: Fine. But it will be a one stroke match.

Kaoru (taking the reverse blade): Are you sure about this?

Kenshin (checking the tip of the shinai): Yes. I haven't used a shinai much, but...

Kaoru: Be careful. He's no ordinary swordsman.

(Kenshin smiles.)

Raijuuta: Begin!

Kenshin: The judge?

Raijuuta: We won't need one. Match!

(Kenshin slowly raises the shinai.)

Student: Good, good. You can see the vagabond's strength.

Student: Yes, but is he really that strong...

(Raijuuta strikes. Kenshin steps out of the way, and he hits the floor with amazing force. He tries again, and Kenshin once again steps out of the way.)

Student: Did... did you see that?

Student: Not really... but whatever it is, it's amazing.

Kaoru (thinking): It's not amazing at all... Kenshin is always faster, and he won't overlook the great opening created by those big strokes again. First of all he's not using the "aiming at the eye" stance. It's an ever-changing formless stance* with no indications to the right or left... No, he couldn't be...

*formless stance--standing without a stance but letting the sword fall naturally Raijuuta: Why won't you fight back? Are you trying to mock me?

Kenshin: No. As I said, I have no desire to draw swords merely to compare skill or show off.

Raijuuta: I see. You intend to force a draw and keep me from taking the sign? Then try this.

(He brings the sword straight down.)

Kenshin (putting up his shinai to block, thinking): He's fast!

(The point of the shinai seems to waver and disappear.)

Kenshin (thinking): What?

(Kenshin's shinai is chopped cleanly in half as Raijuuta buries his in the dojo floor. A pause. Then Raijuuta tosses his shinai aside and turns to go.)

Raijuuta: We're leaving.

Yutarou: Huh? Oh--yes sir! (to Yahiko) I don't really know what happened, but from beginning to end Sensei was the best.

Yahiko: Yeah right! Kenshin didn't show half of his real strength.

Yutarou: I'll settle with you sooner or later. You just wash your neck and wait!

****sorry, I had to leave this in. The idiom means that when they meet again, Yutarou will cut off Yahiko's head, so all Yahiko can do is wash his neck and wait for it. --maigo (later, outside)

Yutarou: That big-mouthed idiot. He's just mad cause Kenshin lost.

Raijuuta: Really, his name is Kenshin...

Yutarou: Sensei? (he notices a bead of sweat on Raijuuta's face.)

Yutarou (thinking): Sensei's sweating...

Raijuuta (thinking): The secret sword Izuna was blocked. Maybe he too uses old style kenjutsu. Himura Kenshin's strength is impeccable! An amazing talent for my Shinko school!

(Back at the dojo, they examine the split in the floor.)

Student: Wow... what is this?

Student: It looks like it's been hit with a real sword... how could you do with a shinai?

Kenshin (thinking): Far from a real sword... This was cut with something much sharper. With today's techniques it would have to be cut with a diamond. That's not the petty skills of a dojo destroyer. Who is this Isurugi Raijuuta... ?