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Kashi continued forward, the dust cloud was easy to see, but then again, as he was approaching, it wasn't hard to see his bloodthirsty aura. The great presence of death, power, and destruction in that man. He walked with a stance of power, and had the little girl follow him now, not clinging, but forcing herself to be stronger. This man, whoever he was, was immensely powerful...and not Shinsengumi...He didn't seem to care for the two on the side of the road, despite knowing of their existence.

Masamune walked outside and read the note. He stared at it for a long time and sighed. He walked back inside and tossed the note into the fire, which before it even got close, burned up. Masamune sat back down. "No, the ten's whereabouts are unknown...but they are still alive...that is for sure. They are each travelling to find the toughest opponents and so fight in the war and otherwise as simply vagabonds. Beyond that we don't know."

Sakura was slowly rowing himself by now toward the mainland, and toward Tokyo. Something felt wrong, but he had to find out about it...find out before anything horrible happened.

Masamune sat there and leaned back a bit. "That's partly true. They aren't...bloodthirsty persay. They are named the best, but that isn't necessarily true...There are others that may be better...such as Chaos, or Sakura. What is the difference, is that their masters were the best ever, and then when they died, a new age had started, new people, training in odd things. And so you begin something different, and more..."

Kashi stopped and turned, his golden gaze looking at the girl. His eyes blood-red. Something in them was dreadfully frightening. It wasn't like he wasn't human...it was just...he didn't care. He held no remorse in those eyes, no love in them, and nothing of fear...This man had given up everything, and was now fearless. He held no remorse, and no fear, a truely dreadful opponent who has fear of nothing that can happen to him..."Kyoto isn't too much farther is it vagabond-chan?" A somewhat demeaning denotion as he didn't know her...but then again, he didn't seem to care either. His words, though seeming friendly, were cold as an iceberg.

(Bump...come on Malik, post crying ))

The man looked at the two of them for a long time, then he turned and as he was walking past them gave his response. "There is no reason to give greatness or honor to those who hold nothing to be respected. I wish you well...and pray you stay out of my path." The man walked along the road now. The end was soon...that was good to know. At least he would be through all this mess.

"Aiming? They have already proved they are the best. They each killed their senseis as proof. Each was fighting to kill the other. It is the way of their blades. They want proof that they are the best. Call them insecure, or whatever you will...There are still impurities. The ones that your eye isn't yet accustomed too seeing, but you will observe and notice it eventually, for now know that you will still by doing this a few more times." Masamune leaned on the counter and stared at the ceiling now as if remembering.

Kazuma noticed the lack of a retort on Miu's part, and he stepped up, figuring it was now his place to defend both of their honor. "Now sir. I must politely request that you apologize for your comment. While I can easily see you mistaking us for common trash, after all, we are just sitting here under this tree, but still. I must insist you apologize. If not to myself, than to my friend here." He moved his hand slightly, indicating Miu. At all times he avoided seeming threatening, but Kazuma was still focused, and he knew that situations like these could easily boil down into common street fights.

"Kazuma? I think we should leave this man alone... I'm sure he's in a hurry to Kyoto, right?" There was something about those eyes that scared Miu, she had never seen eyes quite like them before. And then there was that something lurking behind his kind smile, something she could only sense, but which was even worse than those dreadful eyes. She nodded and bowed to the man.

"Apology accepted, I know lack of sleep can make even the most kind man insult his best friend." She moved closer to Kazuma away from the man... just in case.

Shadows? A shadow at the battle field? Suddenly she had a flashback. Yumi was standing in the middle of a huge battlefield, her men were dying all around her. And there, for a fraction of a second she saw a large black figure smirking at her before moving onwards. Surprised Yumi realized she had probably been saved because the shadow had noticed she was a woman... and after all, Yumi had been pretty young then and she had never had, not even up to this day, a very big reputation of being a skilled fighter... people tended to more see her as a lunatic who somehow had managed to kill the right person.

"How would being a sensei or master or teacher make them better than killers? What's wrong with being a killer?"

Kashi was walking along in silence, thought occupying him. He needed to find them all. Those ten that had mastered some of the greatest styles and or ways of the sword that there were.

Nito-kenjutsu(Two Sword Style)

Kinheikijissenjutsu(The art of small weapons fighting)

Koiguchi-Kaitou-ryu(The style of sheath and sword)

Kamayarijutsu(The art of the curved cross blade spear)

Naginatajutsu(The art of the halberd)

Tachijutsu(The art of the long sword)

Ninjutsu(Fighting art of the Ninja)

Iaijutsu(art of drawing one's sword, cutting down one's opponent and sheathing the sword afterwards)

Yochijutsu(The art of prediction fencing)

Menofujiyuu-kenjutsu(The Art of Blind Fencing)

He needed to find them all, and make them his own small group. He would be able to do anything then. He couldn't do it alone, though he could come very very close to it, his goal was to do it all...He entered the city in an hour, and Akira close by following. Soon, he was captured and restrained within his own headquarters. The Shinsengumi were losing, and negotiations were being made...a hitokiri was no longer needed...

Kashi was thrown to his death, and meant to be burned...but they never got that far. He was thrown to his death, but he killed the beasts that were to prey on him, and ate them each. He would survive and get out, his eyes set to kill the new uprising Meiji officials...But this was a weeks time...Kashi was now being led away to be figured out what to be done with. The Meiji officials were speaking with Shinsengumi officials. The Meiji were winning. Without their star fighters, they were losing...so their promise was this.

'Though we may lose this war, our spirit of tradition and the old way will never die...'

These men...would be the first to die...

Masamune smiles and laughs softly. "A killer is nothing more than you are now. Without patience, wanting to be done with their metal and so not fully exacting the greatness to which they can achieve. They are not humble to themselves, and cannot find inner peace, nor balance. These men have great power, but no balance. They are the Yin without the Yang. Yumi, these men are killers, and it is not something that they should be...A sensei is master of what they are, because they have found that, and so can take on an opponent from everywhere, and have a peace and balance that cannot be faulted...those men, will fall." Masamune looked at her, age far reaching into the depths of time.

((Mmmmm, hints))

Masamune looked out the window. "No...in fact there were three women. They were masters of Naginatajutsu, Kamayarijutsu, and Kinheikijissenjutsu...the other 7 were men. spears though a male dominated area, were mastered by certain females...most...are ruthless. The other...was just a thing picked up and trained with. Yumi, these people are no laughing matter. Especially if they were to form together...the results could be devestating...

As Kashi was being led off he could only think of the things he would do to this empire. To these people...to this greatness...he would destroy it all...