Chapter 94: The Beginning of the Instruction

(A scene of carnage, nineteen years ago)

Fighter: Who--who the hell are you?!

Hiko: It would be pointless to give my name to one who is about to die.

(The fighters are quickly slaughtered. The only one left alive is a small boy, kneeling among the dead.)

Hiko: You're pretty unlucky, boy. Since the coming of the Black Ships two years ago the Bakufu's system of keeping the public peace has broken down. Around here there's a lot of degenerate ronin turned bandits. I just happened to be here to take your revenge for you.

(The boy is silent, not even glancing at Hiko.)

Hiko: No matter how much you hate or how much you suffer, you can't bring the dead back to life. The same thing is happening all over Japan these days. You should be glad to be alive. If you go to the village and tell them what happened, they'll find some way for you to make a living.

(The boy refuses to react; Hiko walks away.)

(Back to the present)

Hiko: That was a long time ago. Hey, how long you gonna sleep? That's it, wake up.

(Kenshin, sprawled in front of him, struggles to catch his breath.)

Hiko: Well, if you're not going to wake up, I'll just sit back and keep remembering old times. Like the last time you wet the bed, the autumn you were eleven.

(Kenshin sits bold upright.)

Hiko: Or the time you were so hungry you ate those toadstools and almost died.

Kenshin: Master!! To remember these shameful things even I'd forgotten you have to be truly evil.

Hiko: What are you talking about? I've been training a whole week with my stupid pupil who left me after a fight. You couldn't ask for a better master. But I'm getting kind of sick of this. If you can't get an attack in this next round, I'm not teaching you the techniques.

(They square off, staring each other down.)

The thirteenth master of the Hiten Mitsurugi school, Hiko Seijuurou. Kenshin: He's sneaky, tactless and he hates people. As someone who knows my past, he's a million times nastier than Saitou.

Hiko: Even if you think things like that you shouldn't say them out loud.

Kenshin (thinking): But his skills... he is without a doubt the strongest. Cheap tricks won't work at all... if this is my last chance... I'll attack with my whole body and soul! (aloud) Let's go...

Hiko: Yes...

(They leap straight up in the air.)

Hiten Mitsurugi

Kenshin: Ryuutsuisen!

Hiko: Ryuushousen!

(Blackness)

Hiko: Hey, how long are you gonna sleep? That's it, wake up.

(Kenshin awakens flat on his back again.)

Hiko: You struck with your full force, but you weren't focused. You were careless controlling your posture on your landing--that's why you blacked out, idiot. But even if you hadn't, you gave me a hit. I'm not saying it was perfect, but you can't change the fact that it was a hit.

(He holds up his armguard, which has a slight nick.)

Hiko: As I promised, I'll pass down to you the succession techniques.

(A little later, in front of his house.)

Hiko: All right, now don't move. One false move and you'll be killed. First a review. The types of attacks in kenjutsu--first, the Karatake (downward stroke), Kesagiri, the slantwise downward stroke to the shoulder, reverse Kesagiri, right Nagi (belly stroke), left Nagi (reverse belly stroke), right upward cut, left upward cut, and the Sakakaze, upward stroke. Finally, the stroke that pierces at the shortest range to the chest, the Tsuki. In all the schools there is no killing technique that does not aim for one of those nine points. Naturally, the stances of defense were developed to correspond to these same nine points. But--

(He strikes, blazing past Kenshin. Kenshin is left with a tiny scratch at each of the nine points.)

Hiko: If you move with the godlike speed of the Hiten Mitsurugi style and strike at all nine points at once, there is no possibility of defense. This is the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryuu Kuzuryuusen.

Kenshin (thinking): I couldn't have moved an inch... so this is the succession technique!

Hiko: The same power of even the wild attack technique Ryuususen in all nine attacks, combined with the charging techniques make avoidance of the strikes impossible. This is the technique I'm best at.