Chapter 5 - The Sensei

Much later, by mutual unspoken consent, they moved into the cave where they made love once more before settling into each other's arms.  The dirty and rocky floor of the cave would have uncomfortable in normal circumstances, but neither cared very much.

Lexi lay with her head on Shoryu's chest, luxuriating in soft warmth of his body.  Shoryu's right had trailed up and down her body, sending ticklish shivers of pleasure through her.  They were not enough to arouse her, but she reveled in the loving attention of the caresses.

"You know, it's not fair," said Shoryu out of the blue.

Lexi tilted her head up an bit and asked, "What's not fair?"

"You know so much about me, thanks to the memories in my blood, but I know next to nothing about you."  Shoryu propped himself up on his elbow, dislodging Lexi from her warm perch.  "I know that you're a warrior, and that you have fantastic sword skills, but beyond that, I don't know much."

"We can fix that.  What would you like to know?"  Lexi sat up and leaned her back on the cave wall.  At the mouth of the cave, the light from the early morning sunrise filtered in.  Normally, the thought of being this close to the sun was cause for alarm but this time, for some reason, she felt oddly comforted by it.

Shoryu looked thoughtful for a minute.  "Anything and everything.  Like, who are you, and how the hell did you get so good with a sword, and how did you get your hands of an authentic katana?  I don't know how different your world is from mine, but in my world, the Japanese strictly control their historical artifacts."  Shoryu sat up and crossed his legs.

Lexi smiled a toothy and impish smile.  She considered briefly a smart assed remark but decided against it when she saw the serious expression on Shoryu's face.  Now was the time for honesty, not play!  "In my world, it is very difficult to acquire a Japanese katana as well, unless you were in Japan before all the restrictions came in."

Shoryu nodded and indicated with the jut on his chin that Lexi should go on.  "I was born in a small village, outside what is now modern day Sweden.  It was arranged by my parents that I should marry the son of the pig farmer from a nearby village.  Needless to say, I did not find this arrangement to be particularly attractive.  However, being the obedient little peasant girl that I was, I respected my parents' desires and went along with it.  On the eve of my wedding, a wave of wild lycans attacked both villages and wiped out everyone.  I had been collecting mushrooms during the attack.  I arrived back in my village just in time for the dead corpses to start turning into lycans."

Lexi suppressed a shudder and Shoryu immediately shuffled over beside her and put an arm around her shoulders.  Normally, Lexi shied away from such comforts, but found Shoryu's actions to be very appealing.  She snuggled gratefully into him and continued her story.

"I was crying over the ravaged bodies of my dead parents when suddenly, they began to move.  My first thought was that they had miraculously survived, despite the dreadful wounds on their bodies.  I was wrong...so so wrong.

My father changed first.  I backed away from the ferocious beast that he had become, only to see my mother rise from the dead too.  I ran out of our hut and was immediately confronted with dozens of undead corpses that were quickly changing into something else.  I would have died then, if my savior had not thundered into the village at that moment with a troop of armored warriors.  The mounted warriors dispatched the half changed lycans with brutal efficiency and much later, I found myself looking into the blazing blue eyes of the vampire Amelia.

Amelia was the leader of the troop of vampires.  I remember how she had led me through the village where I had grown up.  She refused to let me hide my face and explained the lycan menace to me.  Then, she asked me the most critical question in my life:  'What is your will, little one?'  I wiped the tears from my face and replied with one word: 'Vengeance'.  Amelia was not surprised.  She turned me into a vampire that very night and I have not regretted my decision once.

Soon afterward, the war ended but I continued to train in the arts of wars.  When war broke out again a couple of hundred years later, Amelia dispatched me to track down a pack of lycans that seemed to be making their way across the country.  I had a troop of Death Dealers under my command, but one by one, they died along the way.  Our one great weakness as vampires meant that we were completely helpless during the day.  The lycan leader, Rupert was a canny fighter and he used this weakness to his fullest advantage.  When the last of my companions were dead, I continued the chase alone.  No matter how many lycans I killed though, Rupert kept swelling his ranks with anyone who was unfortunate enough to cross his path.  I suppose that I could have done the same, but I was reluctant to involve innocents.  Besides, a newly turned vampire is no match for a changed lycan with the power of the full moon behind it.

I did not know it at the time, but Rupert was ordered by Lucien to create a new branch of lycans in a faraway land, to ensure the survival of the lycans, in case they lost the war.  I ended up following Rupert and his band of lycans to a group of small islands.  The warriors of this country were reputed to be incredible fighters, and it was probably Rupert's plan to turn these warriors into fierce lycan warriors that were dangerous in both human and lycan form."

Lexi paused in her story and Shoryu put two and two together.  "This country was Japan, wasn't it?"

Lexi raised her face and kissed Shoryu on his cheek.  "Where you were born, I believe."

Shoryu kissed her back.  "You're very observant."

Lexi said nothing but just smiled.  After a few moments, she picked up her story again.  "Unfortunately, I lost Rupert's trail.  I followed my instincts and began to investigate the sword schools.  Of course, my investigations were hampered by the fact that I could only visit the schools after the sun had set.  One night, I got careless.  In the courtyard, I was suddenly attacked by a woman with a stick.  At first, I was hesitant in fighting back, but she was quite skilled.  In the end, I was forced to defend myself with my sword.  Thanks to my sensitive hearing, I heard the sound of a child crying before she did.  That was when I realized that the woman was simply attacking me because she thought I was an intruder of some sort bent on attacking her family.  I pulled away and dropped my sword, to show that I had no intention of harming her.  She backed away too, and at that moment, a young boy with blazing red hair ran out and hugged the woman.  The woman comforted the child and a man who was obviously the child's father strolled leisurely into the courtyard.  He had a sheathed sword at his side but he made no attempt to draw it.

He bowed to me and said, "Welcome to my home."  He was well mannered but I could tell from his movements that he was poised to attack at a moment's notice.  I noticed that he had a fading X shaped scar on his left cheek.

The woman rattled off in Japanese faster than I could follow and the man with the red hair tried to calm her.  He was pointing to the sword at my feet and was holding his hands up in a placating manner.  At this point, my Japanese was not very good, but I caught the words giant sword and small hands.

I remember thinking; my hands are not that small!  But then I compared my claymore to the sheathed sword that the man had, and I realized that for these people, my sword would indeed seem large.  In the end, the woman seemed to calm down and the man turned back to me.

‘I am sorry,’ he said slowly, as if he understood that my command of the language was weak at best.  ‘My wife mistook you for an attacker.  There have been many mysterious disappearances lately and she is nervous.  I thank you for your restraint and for not harming my wife.’

The man was incredible!  I knew that he had been watching from the shadows.  I knew that if I had been overly aggressive with the woman, I would have been in real trouble.  I said as much to the man but he shook his head.  He gestured to my sword and said, 'You are obviously not Japanese but you are not much bigger than my wife, yet you swing that sword as if it were a feather.  You are very strong.'

I picked up my sword and sheathed it.  The man invited me into his home and introduced his wife and Kaoru and himself as Himura Kenshin.

We talked in his home for much of the night.  They told me of the mysterious disappearances, and how during the full moon, there would always be several brutal murders, but the dead bodies always vanished from their graves the next day.  I decided then to be honest with my hosts and told them of my mission.  They didn't believe me at first but they did after I showed them a little proof.”

Lexi smiled a toothy smile that gave Shoryu a pretty good idea of the kind of proof she must have shown.

"I stayed with them for several nights.  They put up with my daytime weakness and we spent the nights talking until they grew too tired to talk.  I tried many times to convince my hosts to teach me the ways of their sword style, but while Kaoru-san was more than willing, Himura-san refused.  One night, our discussions were interrupted most rudely.  It was a full moon that night and a fully changed lycan burst into the courtyard.  The lycan was wearing the remnants of a large white cloak.  It had a sword that had somehow remained strapped to its waist.  I was about to kill the lycan but Himura-san prevented me.  Instead, he attacked the lycan with his unusual sword.  Himura-san's sword was blunt on the attacking edge and sharp on the inside curve.  I had never seen such skill or bravery.  He knocked the lycan out, without killing it.

The next night, I was introduced to a tall young looking man.  Himura-san told me that his name was Hiko Seijuro and that he was his sensei.  The full moon phase had passed and Hiko Seijuro told us of his plans.  He had been bitten by a lycan belonging to a pack that was hoping to use his skills as a sword master.  However, Hiko Seijuro would have none of it, and had come here, hoping that Himura-san would kill him so that he could die as a man.  Himura refused, saying that he would do whatever he could to reverse the curse.  Of course, there was no way.  Once turned, a lycan or a vampire could never again become a true human.  The discussion grew in intensity and volume and ended with Hiko Seijuro challenging Himura-san to a duel to the death.  Hiko Seijuro threatened that everyone that Himura-san cared about would suffer the same curse if the challenge was not met.

I didn’t understand at the time why Himura-san refused to kill, or why he had such an unusual sword.  However, I saw an opportunity here to kill two birds with one proverbial stone.  Hiko Seijuro was my link to Rupert and his pack.  I interrupted the discussion and accepted Hiko Seijuro’s challenge.

Hiko Seijuro looked disdainfully at me and said, ‘Foolish woman, do you want to die so much?’

‘I am a Death Dealer, and I am here to exterminate the lycans who have cursed you.’

Hiko Seijuro did something strange then.  He took off the remnants of the white cloak that he had been wearing and he threw it at me.  From his body language and the haughty expression on his face, I knew that he was fully expecting me to drop the cloak.  I did not drop it, but the weight of it certainly surprised me.  I handled the cloak easily, thanks to my vampire strength, but Hiko Seijuro’s face registered his shock.  He gave me an appraising look then and then said, ‘I accept your challenge.’  Then he looked at Himura-san and said, ‘My stupid apprentice, if you do not want your friend to die, then you will teach her the Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu.  I will give you two months.  Meet me in the place where you learned on the night before the full moon.  Death Dealer, I will bring the cursed pack, and after you have killed me, they are yours to do as you like.’  Then Hiko Seijuro gave me the sword that he had been wearing the previous night and then left.”

Lexi paused in her story again and this time, got up and retrieved her sword.  The saya was completely white and there were Japanese characters written on it.  Shoryu looked carefully and could make out the words, Hiko Seijuro the Fifteenth.

“I was still wondering why he would give me his sword when Himura-san quietly said, ‘He does not want the lycans to have his sword.  He is fully expecting that you will kill him.’

I said, ‘Does that mean that you will teach me?’

He did not answer me right away.  Instead, he asked me, ‘Do you swear to only use my teachings against lycans?’

I recognized a formal oath taking, so I kneeled in front of Himura-san and said, ‘I swear it.’

Then he said, ‘Do you swear to use the Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu to protect innocents?’

I bowed low and said, ‘I swear it!’

‘Do you swear to pass this technique down to only one student when the time is right?’

‘I swear it!’

Himura-san gave me a low bow and he said, ‘I will respect my sensei’s wishes.  I will pass on the Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu to you, an immortal vampire.  In return, you will do what I cannot.  You will avenge my sensei, and you will cleanse the world of this lycan plague!’”

There was silence in the cave for several moments as Shoryu digested the story.  “So he taught you his sword techniques?”

“Yes,” said Lexi.  “It was not easy, but my vampire strength and speed helped a great deal.  The Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu style is based upon using incredible speed to deliver blows that will kill an opponent with one stroke.  Against lycans, this is a good thing because usually, if you do not take out a lycan with one stroke, you leave yourself wide open for a counter attack.  Most vampires and do not survive the counter attack.”

Shoryu gestured to the saya and asked, “What does this mean?”

Lexi lovingly caressed the length of the white saya and said, “The white cloak that Hiko Seijuro was wearing is the mark of a master Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu practitioner.  I managed to salvage enough of the cloak to wrap the saya with it.  The name Hiko Seijuro is actually a title given to all masters.  I am the last living master of the Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu, and hence, my title is Hiko Seijuro the Fifteenth.  Even though Himura-san did not want the title, he was still technically the fourteenth master.”

“So you killed Hiko Seijuro in your duel?”

Lexi yawned tiredly and said, “I did.  It was the single toughest battle of my life.  Hiko-san was the only human I had ever met who could have killed me in an even fight.  It was only after it was over though, that I realized that he was actually testing me the whole time.  He was testing my mastery of the Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu.  If I was just a fraction slower, or a little bit weaker, he would have killed me.  If fact, he almost did.  He managed to block every one of my strokes.  In the end, I was forced to use the succession technique – a technique which I had never performed correctly before that night.”  Lexi yawned again.

Shoryu moved beside her again and slipped his arm around her shoulders once more.  “We can finish this later if you want to get some rest.”

Lexi shook her head.  “Perhaps I’ll go into more detail some other time.  Fighting Hiko-san was the closest I have ever come to dying.  He used a special technique called the Kuzu-ryusen which is basically nine strokes that are performed so fast that they look like one.  During my training with Himura-san, I never once defeated this technique and always came away with bruises.  Against Hiko-san, I knew that it was do or die as there is no way to block the Kuzu-ryusen.  I stepped into Hiko-san’s attack with my left foot forward and with the knowledge that the next micro second would determine my fate; every pore of my body was focused in utmost concentration.

As I spun, I felt my body pierced in several places.  Hiko-san’s sword actually became embedded in my chest, a fraction of an inch away from my heart.  Hiko-san actually smiled triumphantly after I completed the Amakakeru Ryu Hirameki technique.  Hiko-san’s hands were still on the tsuka of his sword.  My first strike had cut off both of his hands.  My second more powerful strike cut Hiko-san right through his chest.  He got his wish.  He died as a man, killed by his official successor.”

Shoryu shuddered.  “That is a very gruesome image.”

“It is a very gruesome technique.  If I were not a vampire, I would have died as well.  As it was, I healed quickly from my wounds.  Rupert and his fellow lycans were caught in their human forms.  Himura-san and his companions managed to seal off the duel area with a hastily erected fence so that they could not escape.  I have to give Rupert and his lycans credit though.  When they realized that they could not escape, they decided to die fighting with swords in their hands.”  Lexi yawned a third time.  “And now, my young lover, it is time for that sleep you promised me.  Will you stay with me while I sleep?”