“Hey Kaoru, how come Kenshin never talks about what happened before he got to Haven? It’s like his past is some deep dark secret or something! I’ll bet he was-” Yahiko turned to her with a shadowed, gleeful grin, waggling his fingers suggestively. “An evil bandit!”
Kaoru stifled a groan. “No, he wasn’t!”
“So what was he?” Yahiko’s playfulness dropped away, leaving only a worried boy looking to his teacher for answers. “I mean, he came through the Jump somehow, right? The way you two act, some of the things Gensai-isha says… it almost sounds like he was with the Ishin Shishi! But that can’t be right.”
“Why not?” Kaoru pounced. “Tell me.”
“Red hair?” Yahiko gave her a sidelong look. “He’s got to be neko or kitsune-hanyou; could be yama-inu, but he’s not twitchy enough around crowds. And he’s strong. Taiyoukai blood, has to be.”
Lordly youkai? Kaoru felt her eyes widen. Her father had mentioned that youkai had ranks just as human samurai did, but her threadbare wanderer certainly didn’t act like he was born to a high lord’s standing! Then again, Kenshin chose to be rurouni, not even ronin. Even if he was born noble, he had to know he was giving it all up. “What difference does that make?”
“Taiyoukai rule the wild lands. All the pieces of domains ningen know better than to go into. They honor the Emperor, and they send in taxes to the court – sometimes pretty weird taxes, I heard the Inu Lord of the Western Lands sent in ebony silk woven from a giant moth’s cocoon four years ago – but they don’t get involved in ningen wars. Not unless some ningen wants to get stomped flat.” Yahiko rolled his eyes, none-too-subtly enjoying knowing something else she didn’t. “And everybody knows a lot of the Shishi were mid-level Edo samurai, and they didn’t like hanyou very much. Some of the Imperialists were hanyou, sure, but they were pretty much lesser inu or koumori, even a few usagi. Or was Kenshin like me? Somebody who just got caught in the Jump and dragged along?”
Crossover Queen's Creative Chaos 
Here’s a difference, since Kenshin was a farmbred peasant, and so were most of the Shinsengumi. Of course, Kenshin could have been from a branch of a great family if they were on the outs with the part of the family that had power.
Waiting for what happens next…
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*G* Which goes to show Yahiko doesn’t know everything either.
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Anyone who claims to know everything should be treated as suspect (read: mountain sized grain of salt) and quite possibly bonked over the head. A few times at //least//.
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*G*
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Okay, correction – most of the Shinsengumi came from samurai families, but super lowranking ones. Saito ‘ s dad was originally below samurai rank but bought a higher place. Hijikata was a farmer’s son.
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*Nod* So I’ve read in histories on them, at least. Of course, Saitou was also on the lam for manslaughter….
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“An evil bandit!”
Sorry Yahiko, not scary enough.
Kenshin’s deep dark past is much scarier than bandit.
But the plot will probably eventually alert you to that knowledge.
I heard the Inu Lord of the Western Lands sent in ebony silk woven from a giant moth’s cocoon four years ago . . .
Hello Sesshomaru . . .
but they don’t get involved in ningen wars.
From Vathara’s relies elsewhere and in Chapter 4, Hiten users don’t either. Or aren’t supposed to do. And I’m starting to think it’s very similar reasons why taiyoukai don’t.
And since we know Hiko has to be some level of youkai or hanyou to have enough youki to master Hiten, very curious . . .
I wonder what flavor of youkai is in Hiko’s background?
Somebody who just got caught in the Jump and dragged along?”
No but you are right that, by all logic, Kenshin should not have been in the Ishin Shishi . . .
I’m sure he had a reason that made perfect sense, especially to a thirteen-year-old, but very interesting . . .
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*G*
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Of course I believe it was mentioned somewhere that Kenshin doesn’t know who his Youkai ancestor is/was. So who knows (other than Vathara of course) just how highly ranked said individual was.
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I can tell you Hiko wasn’t sure, and didn’t care. 😉 He just decided how they’d handle the problem for everyone else, and that was that. 🙂
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Which is very a Hiko attitude toward problem-solving.
Well, problems that cannot be solved with Winter Moon . . .
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*Snrk* There are some, yes.
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Well, that’s oblique. Does it matter later?
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Yep. Because it gives Kenshin a certain amount of leverage he wouldn’t otherwise have. Very, very important.
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Well, there are Chinese myths of powerful Fox demons. Kenshin might be part Chi’in.
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Or just a really, really skilled low-level kitsune. You never know.
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Kenshin might be part Chi’in.
Considering the mentions of the Chi’in we’ve seen in the story thus far, I think that wouldn’t make things better. ^_^
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*Snrk* Point!
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Ooh, Usagi Yojimbo reference?
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Yep! 🙂 Who doesn’t love the long-eared ronin? 😉
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Not this fic but my brain wondered over to your “Dragons of Revolution” story, probably since it also features Sanosuke and Megumi as none humans or even human-shaped beings, of wondering just how crazy or interesting things got with one of the Japan’s deadliest assassins on dragon-back?
And how Hiko reacts when he finds out about it? Because he almost certainly did at some point. Probably rolled his eyes and said “Typical. He can never get into a little trouble or only cause a little chaos.”
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“Well, at least the little idiot got the right type of dragon! One fast enough to catch him when he goes sky-diving….”
Seriously, think about how dragons often fight in that setting – as flying “ships” carrying armed men.
Now put a Hiten Mitsurugi master, with all that skill, speed, and fearless acrobatics, on a fast courier-type dragon.
Ambush. Slaughter. Jump. And vanish into the clouds!
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One fast enough to catch him when he goes sky-diving….
“Which he does. A lot. A least once per fight it seems.”
“I’m not surprised. He can be very reckless.”
“I noticed.”
“One is standing right here and can hear the both of you.”
Now put a Hiten Mitsurugi master, with all that skill, speed, and fearless acrobatics, on a fast courier-type dragon.
Ambush. Slaughter. Jump. And vanish into the clouds!
Hee hee . . .
Just when everyone was convinced that that particular swordsman could not get scarier . . .
I sense long and loud cursing on the parts of certain people.
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>Ambush. Slaughter. Jump. And vanish into the clouds!>
Wouldn’t even need to do that. Just damage the muscles or nerves of a wing and the dragon will come crashing to the earth right along with it’s soldiers.
Because if you ‘just’ kill the men you’ll need to deal with the very very angry dragon coming after you.
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Point.
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Merry Christmas to me! Thank you so much for the promise of an AMAZING story to delve into as soon as I can catch up. Looking forward to Kenshin adaptation more than you know.
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🙂
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