"Excuse me, mister."

"Not so fast!" Twisting around to face the bakaroyo that bumped into him, with a scowl on his face, the Shinsengumi soldier took a hold of the boy's cloak and prepared to teach the boy a thing or two but frowned when he couldn't. He then found another means that worked out to his credit.

Kenshin found himself falling forward. He must of been shoved was the first thing that came to mind. With years of skill on the feared hitoriki's side, Himura attempted to break the fall in a more dignified manner but miscalculated and ended up with a mouth full of mud instead. His eye twitched and he let out a frustrated growl behind the patch of crimson hair that covered the top portion of his face, ::Can this journey get any worse?:: Swiping his bangs from his eyes, Kenshin drug himself up slowly, all the while realizing that his muscles ached far worse than his times under his master's training.

A booted foot to his back pushed him back down before he had a chance to fully stand up, "Apologize to my face, street rat!"

The fallen samurai gritted his teeth beyond irritation by the soldiers cocky attitude.

Saitou, who was also there, was about to intrude.... when something out of the ordinary caught the corner of his eye. He gasped softly then gruffly covered it up with a cough in his fist, as his friend, Okita, looked at him, curiously.

::This should be interesting,:: thought Saitou to himself. ::I didn't think the battousai would be in town until the end of the week, that's what our report said. Baka's. Wait when they realize who they are dealing with:: Hajime Saitou almost pitied them...Almost.

He could see how fidgety Okita was beside him, wanting to stop this but kept the idea to himself since he himself wasn't doing anything about it.

As time slowly passed by, Saitou realized there was something wrong.

::The battousai wasn't drawing his sword up. It was just lying limply in the younger man's hand, sagging to the ground::

"What's the matter," the soldier mocked, "You have a sword, why don't you fight me?"

Kenshin regretted snapping up to his feet. The little bit a stew he had earlier with the old woman and the child felt like it was going to come up soon. Himura had been thankful that he had refused to drink the sake he had ordered while in the Inn. Though still, he didn't think he was this bad off. He should of just stayed in the tavern in his little corner until the enemy left.

He felt so humiliated right now.

Using his hand, Kenshin wrapped the cloak tighter around his lithe form. He was glad at least that it was dark out so the shinigami soldiers would not recognize his face. He was in no condition to fight but he would force himself, if he was discovered or continually provoked, like he was being. Hopefully, Kenshin wouldn't embarrass himself, if it came to that.

"Well!?"

'Not good. Not possible.' The katana was numb in his grip, Kenshin chided to himself. He decided to take a chance anyway. He got into his famous battousai-jutsu stance.

Bitter laughter erupted from the man in front of him. Like he was a joke.

Fumed he yanked his cloak off and revealed who he was. He smiled satisfactory as he heard surprised gasp all around him except for the smug bastard in front of him, who was snickering openly. How he wanted to slice him up to shut him up.

He was sure this man was evil.

His behavior and cockiness told him that already.

As for the crowd of soldiers surrounding them, they quickly backed away to a more safer distance so not to risk immediate death.

Kenshin grimaced. The cloak was to hide his injuries and who he was. So foolish to rid it so easily out of anger and pride. His amber eyes flashed brighter at his degraded choice. He seriously was not fit to fight but he will give his best or die trying.

Saitou gave a signal to his friend who confirmed with a nod of a head. Okita signaled for the rest of their men to follow him. They did so quietly as not to disturb the thick tension that seemed to surround the feared battousai.

As the last of his soldiers left with Okita, he snuck into the shadows as to get closer. The hitokiri seemed to be to caught up in himself to realize that only the 3 were here. Not a good sign.