123 5.12 A Stroll in The Park and A Meet With Hiten and Manten!

"Hey kid, are you still awake or are you sleeping?" Hiko-sama's head peeked into my small bedroom as he spoke softly from the door. It was as though he was unable to sleep since he had a new companion sleeping in his house.

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I stood up and rubbed my eyes and I replied, "I am still adjusting to sleeping in this new place. Why aren't you asleep yet, Sensei?"

"I was thinking of what you did earlier with the chicken. Let's head north to the duelling place who knows you could experiment on someone there. It's a chicken you tried earlier, but let's try on someone instead."

A gleam sparkled in his eyes as he spoke which also arouses my instinct. Although he mentioned going to the duelling place, and he had no one to duel with, I wondered what he had in mind if dragging me to that place.

"Alright, I prepare myself first. Do I need to bring this Kodachi along with me or you have something in mind?"

"Just bring the Kodachi along with you. I bring two of my katana instead. You try on the clothes that I had bought for you for tonight and here's this. Cover up your face when we entered the Northern side. We don't want anyone to recognise you. I have mine too so we put this one when we passed the sentry post there. It's been quite a while since I got there and there would be other funds that you might find interesting as well."

"Yes, Sensei. Since it was a duelling place I'm sure to find some common bladed katana, guards and handles there which I might find it useful if I want to forge a new blade."

"OK, I meet you at the terrace and we move out as soon as you are ready," he replied as he closed the sliding door of my bedroom.

I quickly took off my yakata and hung it on a hook on the wall and changed into a red kimono and white hakama. I put on my white tabi and then grabbed my Kodachi and placed it on my left obi. I looked at myself and found that the clothes seemed to be loose slightly but it fitted me nicely. I opened up the sliding door and closed it after me.

I then joined Hiko-sama at the front of the house. He wore a black kimono with matching hakama. And he had the two katana that he had placed on his left obi. He wore a pair of zori while I replaced mine and wore my sandals and tied the straps around my ankles and shin.

My heart was thumping wildly as I walked alongside Hiko-sama as we made our way through some shortcuts in the alleyway that cuts right to the northern gate. About some 15 minutes of brisk walking, we had finally reached the northern gates.

As there was a path that leads to another village some 50 or so kilometres away and an abandoned cemetery some kilometres away from the northern gate, the sentry posts were on high alert as usual.

This path also leads to the authorised duelling grounds who wanted to settle their differences or other what not. This usually ended one party dead while the other heavily wounded.

"Stop where you are. Please state your reasons for exiting through here." asked a young shogun to Hiko-sama.

"My name is Hiko Seijuro and I wanted to bring my apprentice here to experienced some duels that might be happening around the grounds. I would return in a few hours time."

"OK Hiro-san, here are two passes. Tie it around your obi and do not lose it. The password for your re-entry is" gokiburi" which means cockroach in English."

"Thank you. Be seeing you in a while bit." Hiko-sama then gave one pass to me and I tied it around my obi on the right and then tied the face mask as we walked out from the well-guarded place.

"Be careful as we walked past this turn, once we are out of sight, there would be a lot of people with bad intent. Also, there would be interesting drops off you can manage to get them but mainly from fallen samurai and other warriors. You will be on your own but I stand around to observe. The first few ones you meet would be simple enough for you."

"So, Hiko-sama's main intention was to bring me out to slaughter these bad people. In case if you are wondering, killing people with bad intent is also a part of training as a Ronin, a Masterless Samurai." I thought aloud in my head as I moved silently and observed the semi-darkness surroundings.

I held on the handle of the Kodachi firmly in my left hand as I walked among the shadows and observing the surroundings for unnatural movements. Since I have a Third Eye this allows me to be on more alert status. I found a thick stick as we walked along the path and I picked it up. It weighed fairly nice in my hands and it was not rotten one bit at all.

"This could be of some use." I thought as we turned the corner and soon the northern gates were just a looming silhouette in the cloudy and half crescent moonlight. There was still an abundance of snow and our feet made crunching sounds as we walked on it. This made my white tabi a bit wet from the snow.

Suddenly in the looming shadows ahead, we could make out 2 shadows that were lurking around the tombstones of the cemetery. Either they were grave robbers or simply put to loot some fallen duelist. As we approached, the two figures stopped what they were doing and approached us.

"Give me your passes, your coin pouch and weapons and we were on our way soon. Tell us the password to enter the gates as well!" one of the men hissed and approached us. He was holding to a pike with a fairly large blade that looked like lightning on the end. Later I learnt that it was called a "Thunder Pike".

"Ehh... Do you think its simple for you to take our belongings? Why don't you drop yours and we be on our way too." Hiko-sama replied in a mocking manner.

"Who do you think you are, huh? You don't even know us and yet you acted like a godly warrior. If you want to know who we are, get ready to pee in your hakama. We are the great Thunder Brothers and I am Hiten and my brother here is called Manten. Since you had made the acquaintance, then prepare to die!"

The one who called Hiten was actually a demon in human form. My Third Eye was able to detect its unusual aura of death that surrounds him and his younger brother that looked like a reptilian or a shark that stood behind him.

Hiten was wearing a very elaborate armour, which was near identical to that worn by his brother, although his shoulder pads and other portions of his outfit are orange, whereas Manten's are blue. He wears a white shirt underneath his kimono, which is coloured blue around the collar and shoulder.

Over his kimono was his armour, fitted around his lower torso and padding on top of this. Hiten's shoulder pads are roughly shaped like cogs, with spikes roughly in the shape of the letter "z". He also had two pads on his forearms which extend over the top of his hands.

These were bound by grey rings to his arm. On top of the pad on his right arm is an armoured plate, on which a kanji from the name is inscribed, meaning "heaven" or "sky". The two rings encircled his wrist and elbow.

A blue jewel is set on the tip nearest his elbow. The identical plate on his left arm was not connected to his forearm but on his arm and elbow. As with the plate on his right arm, the plate on his left arm also had a jewel set on the tip nearest his elbow, however, it was red and not blue.

He had an extra ring, not connected to the plate, around his left wrist, to match the one on his right. He had an orange coil around his right bicep.

A series of light blue sashes were tied together in bows connected from his shoulder pads to his waist. The ends of this final, waist sash hang down towards his knees. There were two shorter ends, and hanging down from the main knot were two longer ends which pass down beyond his knees.

Tied to his waist sash on either side of his body are two, very long feathers of unknown origin. He wore a dark blue hakama and black shoes, with white trimming around the ankles and grey tabi socks. Hiten wore earrings on both ears. They were gold, double tassels linked to a gold disk, which was joined to the ear and identical to those worn by Manten.

"Hey, are you done admiring the two of us already? It's time to spill some blood! Woohoo...!!" hollered Hiten as he jumped high in the air with his pike raised above his head as he headed down to us.

"Be careful kid! This guy slaughters squads of samurai for sports!" advised Hiko-sama as he moved away further to observe from a safe distance. "This battle is not mine, let me just watch what he could do. What the hell is he going to do with that pathetic stick?!"

Hiko-sama thought to himself as he watched me readying the stick in my hand. I held on to the stick and injected Kamehameha energy into it and hurled it towards Hiten as he travelled downwards towards me.

"Sensei sure moved a lot quicker when faced in this dangerous situation!" I thought aloud as I was left alone with this demon who was hurtling faster towards the earth and towards me with his raised pike which was ready to strike down.

As the stick travelled in the air, Hiten noticed it and decided to kick it away with his foot. When his foot struck the hurtling stick, he let out a yelp and somersaulted back and he quickly rubbed his foot. The stick had rebounded and fell a few feet from me and I gingerly picked it up and place it under my left arm like a baton.

I choose a sizeable rock and injected a bit of Kamehameha energy and I quickly aimed and throw it against the big-headed reptilian shark headed younger brother of Hiten. The rock struck Manten squarely on the head and he too yelled out a yelp and groans he fell to the ground, falling to the ground unconscious!

"Chotto Matte...! Eh... I was joking with you guys a while ago. But now I am getting serious! How dare you hit my younger brother who was not involved in this indirectly, huh? Are you courting your own death, dog?!" Hiten slightly limped as he walked and inched closer to where I was standing.

"Let me introduce to you my full demon power! Since you are asking for this, be prepared to die, you pathetic little dog!"

He raised his pike and through my Third Eye, he was also gathering up his powers from somewhere within. Soon his pike glowed with a hue of white that started emanating from the blade itself. He twirled the pike in the air above his head and his features started to change.

"Taste the wrath from my Raigekijin, you dirty little dog!" as he raised himself from the ground and two spinning wheels appear on his feet as he levitated some feet of the ground. He pointed his Thunder Pike and suddenly a white bright light began to form on the blade and I felt an imminent danger if I do not do anything to prevent it.

I withdrew my Kodachi and summoned my Kamehameha immediately and as I noticed the intensity of the white glow on the Thunder Pike intensify, Hiten aimed at me and unleashed its power!

The Kamehameha had collected sufficient energy and I unleashed it by swinging an upward strike and commanded "Go!" simultaneously.

"Crack...! BOOM...!!!" Two forms of energies were unleashed and it collided from the demon and mine midway above the ground of the cemetery. The moment the two energies collided, there was a loud crackling sound as if positive and negative energies were attracted to it each other and then a resounding loud BOOM sounded afterwards.

Hiten had just unleashed a kind of lightning bolt of shape like an oversized Kamehameha himself, while mine appeared in a shape of an arc of some sort like an afterimage of a sword strike.

My Kamehameha collided with his and with a thunderous and deafening BOOM, it sliced through it and dispersed the form of energy from Hiten's strike. It narrowly misses Hiten as he levitated himself higher a few feet in the air allowing my stroke to pass harmlessly underneath him.

Hiten's strike dissipated in the air but not before leaving the surrounding unscathed. As it collided with a deafening BOOM, birds soon took to the air from their roosting place in surprise. The air surrounding it seems to be such a dangerous area as birds passing through the void suddenly plunged to earth.

I had never expected the Kamehameha to have such a devastating effect as I gambled with myself when I gathered its energy and used it to swing and unleashed it towards Hiten's strike.

"Ho...! Ho...! Ho...! I have finally met with an abominable opponent after all instead of those hordes of Samurai! Who are you kid? Are you a demon just like me having a human body? What is your name, kid? Come and join us and be part of the Thunder Brothers! "

"You can call me Battousai, for I am known with no other names. I am not and never is a demon and I am a living human being. In fact, Iam just an 11-year-old kid. For me to be a part of Thunder Brothers? No thank you, it is better for me to have enemies rather than friends or brothers for one day, even a brother would turn his back on you and become your enemy!From this day forth, remember me as one of your enemies!"

Hiko-sama who was hiding in the shadows heard me loud and clear. It was as if it would be easier to live in this world full of enemies and not having any backstabbing friends. Backstabbers was the worst kind of people who look all friendly and humble in front but yet full of deceit behind you.

Hiko-sama seemed to agree with me since he also lived a life in isolation. It's hard to trust and gain trust and the only person he trusted was in me. Even if my actions were more like a demon than a normal person with the powers bestowed in me, Hiko-sama would rather have me close.

"Hah...! In that case, until we meet again, Battousai! I will never forget this day!" Hiten moved to where his younger brother named Manten was and woke him up and they both left the place with the spinning wheels on the sides of Hiten's ankle.

When Hiten and Manten left the grounds flying away, Hiko-sama came to me. I had totally forgotten that Hiko-sama had travelled with me and I turned around holding the Kodachi in my hands as if I was preparing for another sneak attack.

"Whoooaaa, Himura! It is me!" as soon as Hiko-sama saw the Kodachi in readied position, he exclaimed and upon hearing his voice, I lowered and sheathed the Kodachi back.

"I am sorry, Sensei. I thought you are someone else. I almost forgot we travelled here together. That Hiten and Manten were demons right? I had never seen demons before but they both had this weird aura around them. I could feel it with my other senses."

Hiko-sama sighed as soon as he saw me sheathed back the Kodachi and acknowledged his presence." Yes, Hiten and Manten were demons. They used to hunt Samurai and killing the hordes of them for sport as if squashing our men like ants. This may be the first time Hiten and Manten had met with a worthy opponent and would be finding you to seek for a re-duel."

"I do not think so, Sensei. He would meet another demon, a hanyou or half demon half human in time to come. He would then be too busy to look for me. Japan is so huge and I am just an ant to him, so if he happens to meet me the next time, he should come prepared."

"How do you know that he would be meeting someone that would make him busy to look for you? He looks the kind of revengeful type."

"Don't you worry, Sensei. He would have other important matters to attend to. Furthermore, in the future when he met this hanyou, he would be greatly remembered of me. The Battousai, a name I want to forge for myself and make every demon fear of me."

"You really can look into the future, kid. From what I saw just now, you should be very well replaced me. Your single strike can kill 100 men singlehandedly."

"No, Sensei. That title would still remain yours forever. I have no intent to take that kind of title. Furthermore, there is though, the same hanyou I was talking about that could perform somewhat similar strike like mine and kill 100 or even 1000 youkai. As for me, I better stick to not killing men for personal benefits."

"True...true...true...what you said is very sincere. You are not a Hitokiri (manslayer) but simply a Battousai who draws his own sword. I was surprised, filled with awe and full of wonders about you, kid! It's as though you are a demon but not a demon at all. I simply cannot put my finger on it."

"Arch...Don't think too much, Sensei. We just have known each other for less than a week and yet you are simply feeling so attached to me. Please, Sensei. I am not used to this too much attention, especially from the same gender. You know what I mean right? If it comes from a girl then I shouldn't have any problems, but for the same gender, it makes me feel weird."

"I get what you mean, Himura. So you want to look for something here that you could use in the future? You are a blacksmith too, remember when you told me before? Why not search for something you could use here."

Hiko-sama suggested to me as I looked at the grounds. It seemed that it was strewn with some weapons which are intact or otherwise broken; katana, Kodachi, spears, pikes, bows and arrows, pieces of armour and even human carcasses.

Hiko-sama and I immediately set out to work and gather up a pile of those strewn weapons.