Part 193: Three-Front Battle: Fight 2 Part 3

Sanosuke: I'll give you the Futae no Kiwami! Now take your stance!

(Banjin punches the floor.)

Banjin: Yeah right! I don't know about one tekkou, but you think you can take 'em both out with your two hands? Just one punch from me and it's lights-out, so think about what you're doing!

Sanosuke: Quit whining! We're fighting here, so shut up and take your stance!

Banjin: What! I'll kill you!

Megumi: Sanosuke! (when he ignores her) Hey, roosterhead!

Banjin: What, woman! We're--

Megumi: Shut up! I'm talking to Sanosuke.

Kaoru: Megumi... (She's tough.)

Megumi: You're going to use the Futae Whatever? Seriously? Do you know what condition your hand's in right now? It's about to fall apart! If you use it now, it's the last time. It's over!

Sanosuke: Is that right. Then this is my last attack.

Kaoru: Sanosuke...

Megumi: Idiot. This is the stupidest thing I've ever seen.

Sanosuke: I hate to waste all your work patching me up.

Megumi: I don't care.

Sanosuke: There's just no way I can back down in front of this so-called ultimate fighter. The guys I'd call 'ultimate' are nothing like this. Some I liked and some I didn't, but they all pushed themselves forward at the risk of their lives. (thinking of Shishio, Kenshin, Saitou, Captain Sagara and Anji.) One lost his life because of the hatred his ideals provoked. And one cursed the world and became a mad god of wrath, risking his life to save it. You've never fought anyone stronger than yourself, risking your life to get better. You only fight people you think you can beat. That's why you make excuses to fight with your shoes on and take your fill of vulgar pleasures. I can't sit here and listen to a big frog in a little pond croak anymore!

Banjin: I'll kill you! You are a dead man!

(He crosses his forearms in front of him, bracing tekkou against tekkou.)

Banjin: Try it! Right arm first! And then I'll wring your back-talking little neck!

(Sanosuke looks down at his fist.)

Banjin: What's wrong? Scared? Sanosuke (thinking): My borrowed succession technique... I'm giving it back earlier than I thought, Anji. (aloud) I'll show you, you patchwork idiot. True perfection--is this!

(He smashes into the tekkou with the Futae no Kiwami. The tekkou shatter; Sanosuke's hand bleeds in a dozen places.)

Kaoru: His hand and the tekkou...

Megumi: They're both destroyed...

Kenshin: No.

(Banjin raises both fists to smash the unprotected Sanosuke.)

Megumi: Sanosuke!

(Suddenly, the bulging blood vessels in Banjin's arms seem to burst. He howls in pain.)

Kenshin: For the sake of the priest Anji's lost life, Sanosuke figured it out and risked his life to master the Futae no Kiwami. The true destructive ultimate technique. One fist against two tekkou and two arms.

(Sanosuke headbutts Banjin; he goes down in a shower of blood.)

Kenshin: That's the match.

Sanosuke: How was it? Your first fight against someone stronger than you.

Banjin: Next time... I'll kill you...

Sanosuke: Whenever you want. I'll let you off with an excuse now. But as long as you had those tekkou, you couldn't win.

Banjin: What!

Sanosuke: You're weak in getting hit, and they were meant to compensate for that. I wasn't going to lose to some guy yapping about being invincible. Next time don't be arrogant about relying on tekkou, just improve yourself and come see me.

Kaoru: He won, but... his hand...

Kenshin: It'll be all right. Surpassing your limits is what leads to excellence. Sano and I learned that in our last fight. Your limits aren't something you decide yourself.

(Sanosuke holds out his hand to Megumi.)

Sanosuke: Well...

Megumi: What.

Sanosuke: Sorry, but I guess we gotta start over. (This hurts!)

(Megumi is silent for a moment.)

Megumi: Really... I wish I had something to cure stupidity.

Sanosuke: What?!