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Hidenori smiled. The idea of Haji accepting him seemed far too good to be true, but it was certainly a reunion he'd look forward to. He could see his baby brother again. And maybe they could make up for all the lost time that they never had. Maybe they could actually be a family. The opportunity was stolen from them in the past, but it now seemed that a future like that was possible. And it was all thanks to Katsumi.

Hidenori glanced over at her as they walked, noticing her staring at him. The tall man blushed a little, and started to feel self-conscious.

"Um, is... is there something on my face?"

He brought his hands to his face, feeling around and attempting to wipe away whatever it was. Maybe there was still candle wax on his cheek or something from when it was thrown at him. Did that mean he had been walking around with it on his face this whole time? So all of these serious, emotional moments, he actually looked like a fool?! The horror!

"Oh no, maybe that's why so many people have been staring at me!"

Hidenori stood in silence as Katsumi spoke. Haji believed in the good in people? And had changed it around for Katsumi? The man wondered what kind of person she used to be, but it didn't matter. It sounded like his little brother had a natural gift for helping even the most cynical of people.

And then she told him that Haji would love to see him, and more or less, it helped some of the weight on his shoulders lift. Exuberant, Haji would be exuberant to see his brother. And she was even willing to reunite the two of them...

"Do... you really think so, Katsumi? Do you really think Haji would forgive me?"

Even so, he felt he would forever be haunted by his decision, his inability to protect his brother and mother. He didn't want Haji to think of him as less of a man, as a failure. He didn't want to be judged by his own family, especially when Haji was possibly the last family he had left. But what if Haji didn't even consider him a brother? No... he couldn't think like that, Katsumi wouldn't try to reunite the two otherwise.

"We'll walk until we find a carriage, and from there we can get a ride to go see Kenshin."

He nodded with a small smile, and turned to walk away, assuming Katsumi would follow him. It had been a long time since he dropped his foolhardy facade around anybody... so in a sense, Katsumi was the first one besides Kenshin to see how he really was in fifteen years.

"THAT'S BECAUSE I--"

Hidenori would be kicked in the head by a red blur, flying backwards and rolling absurdly far, only stopping when he finally collided with a tree balls-first. "SACRE BLEU!" He would scream in agony before falling onto his back. Rolling around in agonizing pain for a short period of time, the man would stand up, gripping his weapon and staring at Yukimura.

"DID YOU SAY HAJI?! OF THE MOREI CLAN?!" He would hit the nearby tree with his zanbato, causing a coconut to fall. "SO KATSU-ROSHI WAS RIGHT! MY BABY BROTHER IS ALIVE!" He swung the zanbato like a baseball bat, hitting the coconut and sending it flying straight for Yukimura's face.

Getting back to his feet, Hidenori stared up at Yukimura angrily, picking his zanbato back up.

"I DON'T..." He approached the base of the tree, weapon in hand. "...EVEN LIKE SEAWEED!"

He would swing his zanbato as hard as he could at the base of the tree, planning on completely destroying it and sending Yukimura toppling down. If this wasn't successful, he would keep swinging his weapon and shaking the place up until it fell down, and the Takeda soldier with it.

Ho-ho-ho-holy crap was this guy fast! For story and comedy's sake, Hidenori rolled out of the way of the spear, grabbing his zanbato and unsheathing it. Now, Hidenori wasn't the smartest man, and swinging a weapon of that size in a small area like this was bound to have disastrous effects, but he did it anyway, twirling it above him before swinging it at the Takeda soldier.

"YOUR FACE IS DUMB! I BET YOUR NAME IS SOMETHING LAME LIKE YUKIMURA!"

"How long have I been out here...?"

It had only been five minutes. Hidenori stared up at the blue sky, laying on his back on the shore. His ship had crashed and landed him here. Why was he on a ship anyway? His zanbato laid out over to his side, and he seemed exhausted as if though he had been here for ages. Lord Kenshin was back in Echigo, and his most able in his head bodyguard was out stranded in the middle of nowhere.

"Welp, time to get moving!"

He flipped onto his feet, picking up his zanbato and placing it on his shoulders. He turned around, full of energy suddenly, and began to walk towards the center of the island. This was the opportunity of a lifetime! For what, he didn't know. He just knew there was a silver lining here somewhere, and that this couldn't have been all bad.

Wandering further into the island, he would pass many strange trees. His hand would come out to touch the long trees. "Hmm... it feels rough on my palm... perhaps I'll call them 'palm trees'." It was genius.

Stepping further in, he would notice a great tree with a house built on top of it and a ladder leading up. "Hey, that's convenient!" Before running up to it, he would find a piece of wood on the ground, carving the words "NO TAKEDA ALLOWED" onto it before tying it to a stick and sticking it in the ground. He then proceeded up the ladder. "I bet this has air conditioning! Whatever that is!"

Take care, man. We'll be around when you get back, so no rush. Hope everything goes smoothly.

"Hey, it's all water under the bridge now. My past doesn't really bother me anymore. Kenshin's been good to me."

It was a lie. At least about the past no longer bothering him. Hidenori was haunted by it every single day, it was a heavier burden on his shoulders than even his mighty weapon, but that said, the man knew how to hide it well. And he owed it to Kenshin to be the best he could be under his service. A revenge driven man would make the Uesugi and ultimately Kenshin look very bad. And Hidenori could never shame him like that.

Hidenori listened to Hiroshi intently despite the fact he was still walking. He noticed the way she was talking, but paid it no mind. Everyone had their own secrets, and Hidenori wasn't going to pry into the secrets of a stranger. He turned to face her with that trademark smile on his lips again.

"The wilderness, huh? Like with bears and stuff? I've never met someone who lived like that before! That's pretty awesome, Hiro! So... are you like a mercenary or something? Ever slay any bears? I wanna wrestle one someday."

He was pretty serious about that. One way to exert his manliness to the world would be to find a bear and wrestle it into submission. Imagine doing that in front of the Takeda army. They'd run away from the Uesugi bear wrestlers! But seriously, he was curious about the life of a wanderer. He had always wanted to do that himself, but he had spent most of his life in Joetsu.

He blinked. "Yeah, she did. Didn't I introduce myself back at the temple?" He had completely forgotten the candle stick that had cut him off at "Mor-". "I am Morei Hidenori. Last of the Morei bloodline of Owari and destined to be the greatest warrior in the land!" He stated proudly, albeit a bit sadly.

Hidenori stared in amazement at the power of Kenshin's sister, pulling out a phantom not just from one person's heart, but the entirety of the army in this place. Seeing Nega-nori standing in front of him, he couldn't help but wonder how real this guy was, or if it was just a cheap imitation. Soldiers went up against their phantoms one at a time, and many were defeated, left in tears by their physical and mental attacks. It was Hidenori's turn next.

"Alright, Lord Kenshin, here goes nothing!"

He was determined to prove his worth to the man who raised him, and with a swing of his zanbato, he noticed his shadow self had drawn his sword at the same time. With a shout, the large man charged forward, swinging his weapon in a horizontal arc. Shadow Hidenori did the same, and the two blades collided in mid-air. The snow in the immediate area around them seemed to be pushed away upon collision from their sheer force.

"Okay, so you're pretty real." The man grunted before swinging his sword around in the other direction, coming a full 360 degrees and bringing it to strike on the other side. Once more, Shadanori's zanbato came up to block it. Immediately, Hidenori pulled his zanbato up, raising it into the air before bringing it down as hard as he could onto his inverted self. The snow around them shot up from the impact, and the two were obscured from sight momentarily. Hidenori grinned, thinking that he won, but that smile quickly faded when the snow dissipated, and his shadow self was standing there with his zanbato, seemingly unmoved from the force whatsoever. "Is your heart really in this, Hidenori?" The mimic barked at him, and with one swift motion of his weapon, he pushed Hidenori off of him and sent him flying back into the snow on his back.

"What do you mean...? Of course it is, I wield my blade for Kenshin!" Hidenori jumped back to his feet, charging again. His blade was forward, and he sent a great thrust towards his doppleganger. It was parried, and the enemy's hilt was sent into his stomach. As he reared over from the pain, the shadow spun and sent the flat of his blade into Hidenori, striking him hard and sending him back again.

"Stop lying to yourself." He pointed his blade at Hidenori as the man lay on the ground, looking up at him. "Your silly demeanor. Your constant need to run. Your blind servitude to your lord. Do you even know what you're running from anymore?" He raised his sword up high, bringing it down at Hidenori. The man quickly blocked with his own zanbato, the blades extremely close to his face and his hands shaking to keep the phantom from overpowering him. "Not a day goes by where you're truly happy. It's all a lie. You can't help but think about your failure fifteen years ago."

Sending his foot up, Hidenori kicked the phantom in the stomach, pushing upwards on his weapon to get him off of him. "Shut up!" He climbed back to his feet, swinging at the phantom again. Once more, the blow was blocked. "You were too weak to save your mother, who died in front of you. You were too weak to protect your brother, who you abandoned when you ran away from home that night. And you're too weak to defeat me, the only one who knows how truly weak you are." Pushing against Hidenori and swinging his blade, the man was sent back, sliding along the ground as he landed on his feet, looking upon his shadow.

Gripping his blade tightly, Hidenori realized that brute force wouldn't work here. But right now, all he wanted to do was smash this guy to pieces. "I..." His hands began to shake. "I was too weak to protect my mother... and in my own cowardice, I did run away, leaving Haji behind... I was always too scared to go back home for fear of not being able to face my sins..."

The phantom began to walk towards Hidenori. "You won't be able to protect anyone. You'll always be too weak. You've lost everything. And one day, you'll fail to protect Lord Kenshin too."

The tall man looked up at his phantom, gritting his teeth. "No! Kenshin took me in even after my failure, and raised me like his own son! He gave me a second chance... and I will give my life and soul to protect him!" He charged at his phantom, swinging his blade with a vigor he didn't possess previously. "I'll never be able to right the wrongs of the past, but I can still fulfill the wishes of my mother! I can still grow strong enough to protect those I care about!" His next blow had knocked the zanbato straight from the phantom's hands, and with one final slash, Hidenori had cleaved straight through his torso, his blade stopping in midair afterwards as the phantom and several of the onlookers looked shocked.

"And one day... I'll find Haji, and I'll tell him that I'm sorry."

The phantom smiled as he faded away, sword and all. Hidenori was left standing there alone, a little bruised and beaten, but he began to realize the point of this exercise. Sheathing his sword, he felt as though some of the burden that was weighing him down had disappeared. But there was still much more he had to do. Having passed the trial, he would step aside to allow the next competitor.

Buying:

Mochi: Heals most minor wounds obtained in the current thread. +3 Con for two posts. Only thing that stacks is the posts. Up to three in a stack. 40 Yen x3

40 x 3 = 120

"Huh? HEY, IT'S YOU!"

Hidenori was expecting a multitude of Date soldiers, but instead found the one Date soldier he had been searching for. The guy avoided his strike by running straight down one of the paths, and Hidenori would follow without hesitation, sword at the ready as he booked it down the left path.

"YOU OWE ME A DRINK, ASSWIPE!"