The Man of the Slashing Sword






Shinta, a slave boy, is travelling with a caravan when they are set upon by bandits. These bandits show no regard for life, killing all the members of the caravan, man or woman or child. The bandits quickly kill everyone in the small group, until only Shinta, and the three women who have cared for him, Kasumi, Akane, and Sakura, remain, huddled in a corner. Wanting to protect them, Shinta takes up a discarded sword and faces the bandits, before he is pulled back by one of the women. Even as they beg for the bandits to spare the child, the three are killed.

Perhaps their plea is not unheard, as the swordsman Hiko Seijuro comes upon the bandits, in time to prevent Shinta's murder. Dispassionately, Hiko easily dispatches the bandits using his superior Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryu, as Shinta looks on in horror at the dead bodies of his former companions. When Hiko returns the next morning to bury the corpses of those he could not save, he sees that Shinta has already buried them all, bandits, traders, and slaves. Sensing that this child held potential, Hiko took Shinta as his student, to train him as a swordsman, giving him the name "Kenshin".

The year is 1864 (Genji 1). In Kyoto, Kiyosato is serving as an escort to Shigekura Jubei of the Kyoto Shoshidai, discussing his upcoming marriage when they are approached by Kenshin, now working as an assassin for the Choshu Clan. Trained in Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryu, they prove no match for him. Because Kenshin had no intention of killing Kiyosato, he gave him the chance to surrender, however, he refused and they fought. Kiyosato managed to touch Kenshin with the point of his sword, scratching a long cut down the left side of his face, before Kenshin killed him. With his dying breath, he calls out the name of Tomoe.

The next day Kogorou Katsura, the leader of the Choshu Clan, asked Kenshin to accompany him to a meeting of the rebel leaders as his adjunct. However, Kenshin declined, saying that his purpose was only as an assassin, nothing more.

In his memories, Kenshin remembers the day he left Hiko and his training out of his desire to protect the people who were suffering from the rule of Tokugawa. Hiko tells him that he is a fool, because the only way he can use his word to protect them is to join a side of the conflict, and, thus, be used by other men. However, Hiko realizes that because Kenshin is so pure at heart, he must do this, and so he allows him to leave the mountain.

And as he stands in an alley, looking over the fallen body of another of his enemies, the cut given to him by Kiyosato begins to bleed again.

The next day, in the streets of Kyoto, Kenshin is met by Iizuka as he avoids a patrol of the Shinsen Gumi, led by Hajime Saitou. In a brief coversation, Iizuka points out to him a beautiful girl, across the street, and mentions the smell of perfume, and is surprised to notice that Kenshin recognizes the scent as white plum.

That night, Kenshin is at work again, with more enemies of the clans dead from his sword. As he is met by Iizuka, he notices that the cut has began to bleed again. Iizuka tells him of a superstition that if a wound is inflicted by one with a strong hatred, the wound will not heal until revenge has been exacted.

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