See author's intro.
Hiko the Twelfth finds he has his hands full with his new, and rather arrogant, student.

I, on the other hand, am not arrogant. I humbly acknowledge that I do not own the characters of Rurouni Kenshin—they are the property of Watsuki Nobuhiro (our hero) and the avaricious empires of Sony, Jump Comics, and all the other conglomerates who have their fingers in the pie.

This story relies on information found in the manga, not the television series.
None.
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A Star is Born: Chapter 2


by Conspirator ::: 04.Sep.2003


Hiko Seijurou, twelfth master of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, was a calm man, a self-assured man, a man who had no doubt that he possessed the ability to read a person’s ki without error. Yet after sizing up the youth now at his side and conferring upon him the singular honor of becoming his one and only student, he was beginning to doubt his assessment. It may have been karma that led him to settle in this particular area of Japan, but it was the righteous indignation emanating from the 17-year-old Yama no Genji that had attracted him to the actual fight between Genji and the bandits. Never before had Hiko the Twelfth sensed such a strongly righteous ki, the kind of ki that made this youth the perfect candidate to become heir to the most deadly form of kenjutsu in Japan, Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu.

Righteousness, however, was one thing, supreme arrogance was something else entirely, and the arrogance of this youth was not to be believed. In the short amount of time since he had taken the boy on as a student, Genji had managed to irritate the hell out of him. It was obvious that Genji was self-taught at kenjutsu, but to claim that his style was called Yama no Genji Ryu-really! And to criticize Hiko’s flowing cloak as being tastelessly flamboyant-the nerve! But that was nothing compared to Genji’s attitude during training.

"Turn your foot in, not out!" Hiko the Twelfth found himself shouting over and over. A simple thing to do, but Genji seemed determined not to do it.

"I’ll be damned if I’m gonna look pigeon-toed!" Genji would shoot back.

"Raise that elbow!" Hiko the Twelfth kept yelling at him.

"Why should I air out my armpits!" Genji would shout in return.

Finally, Hiko the Twelfth, who was always so calm, snapped. It was time to put this callow youth in his place.

"You will learn to obey my instructions," Hiko the Twelfth announced one day in a voice laden with doom, and he flew towards his student with all the speed for which Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu was famous. Genji ran forward to meet him, only to have his leg kicked out from under him and his sword knocked out of his hand before he could even blink an eye.

"Hey, whad’ja do that for?!" Genji yelled as he sat up and massaged his very sore posterior.

Hiko the Twelfth turned a steely eye on his student and said, "Now you know why you must turn your foot in and raise your elbow."

"Geez, Hiko…."

WHACK!!

"You will call me Shishou!"

And so it went, day in and day out, month in and month out. Hiko had been right about one thing-Genji had a natural affinity for the sword, and he learned quickly-but Hiko had underestimated how irritating the boy could be. For instance, one evening, after a particularly grueling day of practice, Hiko decided to turn in early and directed Genji to prepare his futon. This was nothing new, for his student was responsible for household chores such as preparing the futons for the night. However, this night, when Hiko the Twelfth finally laid down on his futon, it was to the sensation of something slithery in his bed-Genji had slipped a garden snake into it.

WHACK!!

"Hey, what was that for?" Genji had sputtered. "It’s not like I called you Hiko or anything…"

WHACK!!

"You will call me Shishou, and you will not put anything in my futon!"

Or the time they were preparing to eat dinner one evening, on a day when Hiko the Twelfth happened to be highly annoyed with his student, as usual. He had been calming himself by reading a book while Genji prepared the meal, but he could sense without looking that the boy was about to slip something vile into his food. Without even turning around, Hiko whipped out his sword.

WHACK!!

"Don’t even ask," Hiko had said. "You can guess why."

After many, many months of this, Genji started to develop a grudging respect for his teacher, not that he would ever give Hiko the satisfaction of calling him ‘shishou.’ He had to admit that this man was the most awesome swordsman he had ever encountered (not that he had encountered that many in his life). And he had to admit that what Hiko taught would, if Genji could learn it, turn Genji into an unbeatable swordsman himself. He was, however, getting really tired of all the whacks, especially the ones occasioned by the mere thought of doing some kind of practical joke, and he was determined to learn how to read people’s minds just like Hiko did. It turned out it was all part of the technique of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, and Hiko was only too glad to teach him.

"Send out your mind to sense those around you," Hiko had instructed him. "When you sense that I am about to attack, you attack first."

That would have been easy if it weren’t for the fact that Genji was blindfolded.

WHACK!!

"Hey, I didn’t even hear you coming!" Genji complained.

"I was airborn," was the reply.

WHACK!!

"Hey, this time I went for you in the air, but you weren’t there!" Genji cried.

"I pushed off from the wall," was the response.

Well, no wonder Hiko had been so glad to teach him! At dinner that night, Genji was so sore from all the whacks, and so black and blue, that dark thoughts clouded his mind. No sooner had a particularly nasty thought occurred, of course, than….

WHACK!!

"You will learn to mask your ki as well as to read mine," Hiko informed him.

And so he did, after several more weeks of whacks and bruises, to the point that Genji could now sense when Hiko was about to whack him. Finally, nearly a year after being taken in by Hiko the Twelfth, and only because he was trying to add some hot pepper flakes to Hiko’s tea….

WHAC…Clash!

He did it! He finally managed to thwart Hiko’s lightening-fast whack! Unfortunately….

WHACK!! Hiko counterattacked, and this time Genji was unable to stop it.

"Goddammit, Hiko….!"

WHACK!!

"You will call me ‘Shishou!’" responded Hiko. "However, I note that your speed has increased significantly. Now we can begin your real training."

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that ensued. Then Genji exploded.

"Real training?" Genji bellowed as the full meaning of Hiko’s words sank in. "What the hell have I been doing for the past year, if that wasn’t real training?!"

Hiko closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation. This youth, now all of eighteen, was truly the biggest horse’s ass he had ever met. Would he never learn?

"Deshi-and I use the word lightly," Hiko began, "you have been nothing but trouble and arrogance ever since I conferred upon you the honor of studying with me."

"Conferred the honor?!" Genji shot back. "Kidnapped me was more like it!"

Hiko glared at Genji. "I took what was a singularly talented, but highly unformed, lump of clay and have turned that lump of clay into a properly trained swordsman," Hiko said in a voice that left no doubt that as far as he was concerned, he was talking to a dolt.

"Lump of clay? Unformed?! Why, I beat the master of that dojo I studied at…."

"By watching through the window," Hiko noted acidly.

"By watching through the window-so what! And I still beat the crap out of him! You call that unformed?"

For about the hundredth time since taking on this student, Hiko again wondered whether he had made a mistake in choosing Genji as his successor. As Genji ranted on and on, Hiko finally snapped.

"You arrogant, conceited, bullheaded idiot," Hiko growled slowly in a low, dangerous voice, his eyes flashing fire. "Do you not understand yet? Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu is the fastest, most deadly form of kenjutsu ever invented. Without impeccable skills, a swordsman would be killed just trying to learn it! But you…! No, you think you were born with perfect skills! You think there is nothing anyone can teach you! All year it has taken me to correct your bad habits, and you think that is Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu? I wash my hands of you!" And with that, Hiko swirled his ever-present cape around him and stalked out of the small house.

Genji just stood there, sputtering silently as he watched the silent form of Hiko the Twelfth recede into the distance. He knew, deep down, that what Hiko said was true, and he realized, deep down, that he owed Hiko a great debt. But if Hiko thought he was that awful as a swordsman, then why did Hiko make him his student in the first place? He decided to find out, so he ran out and grabbed Hiko by the elbow to stop him.

"If I’m so arrogant and such an idiot," demanded Genji as he pulled Hiko to a stop, "then why did you take me on?"

"Maybe it was bad mushrooms," Hiko muttered darkly, "or maybe there was a full moon that night. I’ve certainly asked myself that question more times than you can imagine! More likely it was the ki I felt emanating from you that day I found you. It was unmistakably the ki of someone with a strong desire to protect others from the sufferings of the ages. It is very rare in a swordsman, but that is the ultimate requirement for a master of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu."

Genji just stared at Hiko; he was at a loss for words. It wasn’t his prowess with a sword that had attracted Hiko, but his ki? Slowly, the light went on in his mind, and he understood. He bowed low and said contritely, "I accept."

A sudden odd noise emanated from Hiko-a snort, perhaps? The smirk on Hiko’s face certainly gave that indication. Genji glowered, but for once held his tongue.

"You will continue, of course, to call me ‘Shishou,’" Hiko said.

"Geez, Hiko…."

WHAC…Clash!…WHA…Clash!……. Genji was getting faster, no doubt about that!

WHACK!! But not quite fast enough.

If Genji thought the previous year’s training had been difficult, it was nothing compared to what Hiko was putting him through now. Running with weights around his ankles, jumping off the roof, practicing long and broad jumps over a river-it was grueling. The most depressing thing about it all, for Genji at least, was the fact that no matter how hard he tried, no matter how fast he ran, the shorter and considerably older Hiko the Twelfth always seemed to be stronger and quicker. Genji could now jump unaided onto the roof of their small house, but Hiko could jump into the top branches of the surrounding trees. Genji could now back-flip three times in succession, but Hiko could back-flip five times and do it more quickly. Slowly, however, one by one Genji found himself mastering the trademark moves of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu-Ryu Kan Sen and its variants, Ryu Shou Sen, Ryu Tsui Sen and Ryu Tsui Shou Sen, and even the Do Ryu Sen. As for battoujutsu? Genji managed to match the beyond-godlike speed of his master, although he couldn’t quite exceed it. Very little, Hiko told him, was left to learn. With this in mind, Hiko, despite certain qualms, decided it was time to bring Genji along with him the next time duty called. The call came not long after Genji had mastered the Do Ryu Sen.

"I have been informed," Hiko told Genji one evening at dinner, "that a band of slavers has been terrorizing the farmers not far from here. They are killing the men and making off with the women and children. This cannot be tolerated. You will accompany me in a search for these slavers so you can learn how Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu is put into practice."

"I’ve already seen how you put it into practice, when you butted into my fight last year," Genji started, but he stopped as he saw a murderous gleam appear in Hiko’s eyes.

"You know nothing!" Hiko roared. "Why do I even bother with you!" Hiko stopped as he strove to regain his self control. After several moments, he continued, his fists clenched in an effort to rein in his temper. "You will come with me, but you will bring only your practice sword. You may fight, but you may not kill, for you are not ready for that."

"What?! A practice sword? I’ve seen death, I know what killing’s all about! What’s your problem!" Genji shouted.

Hiko once again forced himself to exert supreme self-control in order not to strangle Genji on the spot. "You may not kill until you understand the true value of a life!" Hiko said through clenched teeth. "Only then can you understand the true meaning of death."

"Hey, I was raised by nuns, remember?" Genji retorted, knowing full well that Hiko was ready to blow up at any time. "I know all that stuff-I even studied the writings of the Buddha!"

Hiko briefly entertained the thought that strangling Genji would feel awfully good to him at the moment, but he resisted the temptation. "Yama no Genji," he growled, "I will say it once again-you know nothing! You will do as I say! Your skills now are such that even with a practice sword, you will incapacitate any opponent. Still, you may not kill until you have learned the true meaning of death! That is the last lesson of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu."

Genji was now in a very contrary mood, and he wasn’t about to give up. " I thought the last lesson was the ougi," he said pointedly.

WH……Clash!…WH……Clash!…WHACK!!

"General principals," Hiko said before Genji could ask.

The next morning, master and student left at dawn to search the countryside for the slavers. All senses were on alert-not just eyes and ears, but particularly the pair’s unparalleled ability to sense ki. Not two hours away they found the bloodied body of a farmer; the man’s family was nowhere in sight. Further on, they found three more farms in the same condition. It was shortly before lunch when first Hiko, then Genji sensed it-the malevolent ki of a large band of men, combined with the fearful ki of a group of others. The women and children, they guessed. Hiko had taught Genji well, for neither of them made a sound as they crept silently forward through the underbrush. Their quarry turned out to be a group of ten men armed with swords. One of the company kept guard over four women and nine children of varying ages, most of whom were weeping quietly.

"You will watch as I deal with this scum-you are not to interfere at this time," Hiko ordered in a whisper. Then, before Genji could complain, he added, "Watch-and learn."

In less than the blink of an eye, Hiko disappeared, running like a shadow through the underbrush and grass until he was directly behind the slavers. Only then did he make his presence known.

"You will let these unfortunates go," Hiko announced suddenly in his most intimidating voice.

The men’s heads whipped around in astonishment; it took them a moment to comprehend that someone had somehow sneaked up silently behind them. One of the men, who appeared to be their leader, drew his sword as soon as the shock wore off and held it menacingly towards Hiko.

"I’d hold your tongue, old man," the leader said, "or I’ll cut it out of your mouth!"

Genji watched as Hiko, with a barely perceptible flick of his hilt, knocked the sword from the man’s hand; there was no other reaction.

"Only a fool values his life so little that he would taunt a master swordsman with idle threats," Hiko continued, his voice becoming even more menacing. "You have committed crimes beyond belief, and yet I give you the chance to atone. If you value your souls, you will set these women and children free."

The leader now bent down to retrieve his sword. As he did so, he yelled, "Get him, men!" No sooner had he uttered the words than Hiko was all motion. Moving with godlike speed, he was suddenly airborne, and with a shout of "Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, Ryu Tsui Sen!" he descended on the leader and two of his cohorts, killing them all with one mighty swing of his sword. It had taken all of about three seconds. Then, straightening his cape around him as if nothing had happened, Hiko resheathed his sword and faced the rest of the astonished group of slavers.

"I again give you a choice!" Hiko told them in no uncertain terms. "Free these unfortunates, or taste the wrath of my sword!"

At that, the man guarding the captives started drawing his sword. He had barely gotten it halfway out of his saya, however, before Hiko ran at him with blinding speed, shouting "Ryu Kan Sen!" The startled man didn’t even have a chance to scream before Hiko’s blade struck, decapitating him. Hiko now flew forward at the rest of the band, spinning and ducking their awkward attacks as he yelled "Ryu Kan Sen Kogarashi!" As he spun, his blade appeared to be everywhere at once. The slavers had no hope of blocking the rain of blows; they were all dead in a matter of seconds. Hiko now calmly surveyed the scene of carnage, acting as if he had exerted no more effort than to take a stroll. The captives, however, were in shock, and some were visibly shaking. He walked over to them, and taking the hand of the eldest woman among them, said, "Don’t worry, we will take you to a place of safety."

Now Genji emerged from his vantage point. There was no denying that the swordsmanship he had just seen was awe-inspiring. What he didn’t understand was why Hiko hadn’t just killed the bastards outright. He was about to ask when Hiko cut him off.

"You will accompany these women and children to the monastery near here while I check further into the countryside," he ordered Genji.

"But…."

"We will talk later," Hiko said with finality. And without another word, he was gone.

Genji looked at his charges and groaned inwardly-women weren’t so bad, but children were a definite nuisance. Actually, if it weren’t for the fact that these women had just hours before seen their husbands slaughtered, he might have considered seducing one or two of them. What with all his training, he hadn’t had much time for that in the past year, and he certainly missed it! As it was, though, he could only act as their nursemaid and bodyguard. ‘Damned Hiko," Genji thought darkly. "He gets all the excitement and leaves me with the hand-holding.’ Luckily for him, Hiko was nowhere nearby to whack him for the thought.

And so Genji and his troupe of women and children set off at a slow pace for the nearby monastery, stopping every ten minutes or so as one child or another had to go potty, or one woman or another had to rest. Genji was getting royally annoyed with the whole affair and was thinking of all the ways he could get back at Hiko for saddling him with this burden when he suddenly felt it-the flare of hostile ki. He shooed the women and children into the bushes surrounding the trail, then strode forward alone. In a clearing not far off the trail he found five men with another group of women and children. From the look of it, it was another group of slavers, and they were apparently waiting while one of the children relieved himself in the bushes. ‘Well, at least they’ve had to put up with the same crap I’ve had to put up with for the past hour,’ he laughed grimly to himself.

He waited for the child to return with his guard. Then he stepped out and said, "It takes six of you to control three women and six children? Pathetic."

The look of shock on the men’s faces was priceless. They hadn’t heard him coming.

"Who the hell are you?" said one of them as he stepped forward, sword pointing at Genji.

"I’ve come to relieve you of your duty as nursmaid," Genji said with a smirk. Oh, he was enjoying this. Hiko was right-swordsmanship wasn’t everything; needling one’s opponents with sarcasm was almost as much fun!

The slaver didn’t know what to make of that comment. Was this guy a threat or just some arrogant clown with a sword? He decided, fatally, that it was the latter. Ignoring Genji’s comment, he turned to his comrades and said, "Go kill that son of a bitch-he bothers me."

The men started for Genji, but suddenly Genji was nowhere to be seen. They stopped in their tracks as they looked around vainly for the man they knew had been in front of them just moments before. Then, without warning, a sword-wielding dragon descended from the sky.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, Ryu Tsui Shou Sen!" Genji cried as he attacked the startled slavers from above. Two of the slavers fell immediately as his sword cracked the first man on the skull and then hit the second man in the neck. Then he whirled around to face the others as he dropped into battoujutsu stance.

"You can free your captives, or you can throw your lives away-your choice," Genji informed them as calmly as if nothing had happened.

The three men before him took only a second to think before charging once again. This time Genji waited until they came close, then sped out faster than the eye could see and hit them with such force that their bodies literally flew into the underbrush. If he hadn’t been using a practice sword, they would all have been dead. Genji now turned to the astonished leader of the group. The man took one look at his comrades, dropped his sword, and fled into the forest. Now some of the children started to cry, and one woman started hyperventilating in panic.

"That was a pretty magnificent display of swordsmanship, wasn’t it," Genji said cockily as he resheathed his sword with a flourish, "but no need to cry about it." Then put his arm around the panicked woman to calm her. "I’m taking another group of women and children to a monastery. You’ll be safe there. Care to join us?"

With that, Genji led the little group back down the path to join up with the first group. He was now in charge of seven women and fifteen children. ‘Hiko, I’ll get you for this!’ he thought as the slow trek started up once again. It only took another hour to reach the monastery, but what with crying children and whimpering women, it felt to Genji like an eternity. The monks, to his surprise, seemed to be expecting them.

"How did…," Genji started asking, but he didn’t need to ask how they knew, for off near the monastery’s small koi pond he saw a white-haired, caped swordsman deep in meditation. As Genji silently strode over, Hiko said quietly, "Don’t even think of pushing me in."

‘Damn-he read my mind again,’ Genji thought. So, instead, he sat down beside the master of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu and watched the fish swim around.

After several long, silent minutes, Hiko said, "You did well-arrogantly, but well."

"How would you know?" Genji muttered.

"I was watching," Hiko said.

"Watching?" Genji hissed-he had lived with Hiko long enough now to know when to control his temper and his ki, but it wasn’t easy. "You mean spying on me."

Hiko ignored the comment. "A master must determine whether a student uses his powers wisely. I have determined that you did."

Genji digested this rare bit of praise in silence, but he still had questions about how Hiko had handled the first group of slavers. He was about to ask when Hiko spoke again.

"You wish to know why I didn’t kill the slavers at once," Hiko continued, smiling slightly at the look of surprise on Genji’s face. "Those slavers were men, just like any other men, and like all men, they had the ability to choose good over evil. If I hadn’t given them a last opportunity to choose good, then I would have been no better than a common murderer."

"But it was obvious they had chosen evil-they had killed those women’s husbands and taken them as slaves!" Genji pointed out.

"And what makes my taking of their lives any different from their taking of the farmers’ lives?" Hiko replied. "A life is a life, a death is a death, no matter if it’s a slaver or the emperor himself. Once it’s done, there is no going back. Therefore, when one wields a power as awesome as Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, one must be absolutely certain that there is a last chance given to turn away from the path of evil to the path of good. I did not hesitate once it became clear that those men would not change their path. This is one of the most important tenets of Hiten Mitsurgi Ryu. Your own actions show that you have learned it well."

Hiko suddenly got up and walked over to a nearby bench. He picked up a long, narrow package that lay there and handed it to Genji. It was a sword, the finest Genji had ever seen. The blade was a magnificent work of a swordsmith’s art. He took it in his hand and tried a few practice swings. The heft was perfect. He knelt down and laid the sword on the ground in the prescribed position for showing respect for both sword and master.

"This is now your sword," Hiko continued. "You have earned it. It was made by the swordsmith who crafted my own blade many years ago-there is no finer swordsmith in all of Japan. Now you are ready to learn the ougi."

Japanese Terms:

Ki: a person’s ‘aura,’ or in this case, his swordfighting spirit.
Kenjutsu: the art of swordfighting.
Ryu: school or style of technique.
Shishou: master teacher.
Deshi: student.
Saya: sheath for a sword.
Ougi: the succession technique.


Author’s Note: So you expected the young Hiko the Thirteenth to be anything but arrogant? At least his shishou puts him in his place! Next, the conclusion of this short little fic.

Thanks to our reviewers: Beriath, HakuBaikou, Amakakeru No Hirameki1, Maeve Riannon, and Ayashi1. A note to one of our reviewers about whether Hiko the Twelfth may have had more than one student: when given a choice, I rely on the manga as much as possible, since the TV series changes and invents so much. Shougo Amakusa and his teacher are from a set of filler episodes, not from the manga, so in my RK universe, they don’t exist (although I did have fun doing a send-up of episode 22 awhile back…). I’ve put a note at the beginning of the chapters so others won’t wonder about the same thing.


Co-Conspirator’s Note: Poor Co-Conspirator—it’s only the second week of school, and already she’s buried under a mound of work. She’ll be back by chapter 3, I’m sure!
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