Chapter 1: Foul Winds
Author's Note: Hey all you loyal fans! i'm back and happier than ever writing my all new fanfic, but this time it's a ::drumbroll:: Rurouni Kenshin fanfic. ok, so i admit it, i am not the best person when it comes to this Anime series, but it really did intrigue me. i just had the compelling urge to write a rurouni fic...so here i am. hope you enjoy, and i would be completely overjoyed if you guys would review!! because i am a little less familiar with this series, i would appreciate it if you guys would p2p me or something and inform me of any big mistakes concerning the carachters...but please don't be too harsh ::pats her fragile ego:: i don't know if i could take it....well, i think that is everything. ^_^ read and review!!
Disclaimer: I don't own this series. i wish i did...excuse me whilst i go and pout >_
-Steven Wright
The young boy looked up at the sky, thinking of nothing in particular. His steady brown eyes followed a single snowflake's decent as it fell from the grey sky to land softly in his outstretched hand. He had the look of a young boy around the age of twelve or thirteen. He was well built, if not a little short. His spiky black hair was sitcking out in a messy fashion and his cloak was resting carelessly around his shoulders. From behind him a voice started to yell.
"Yahiko? Yahiko!" The girls voice was yelling angrily and seemed to be getting closer.
He winced at the sound of her yells and looked around for some form of escape. Too late. The door behind him slid open and an extremely angry looking Kaoru was glaring daggers at him.
"Yahiko Myoujin!!! Where is the water? I must have sent you out to get it ten minutes ago!!"
"I was getting it, but -"
"None of your excuses you little pest!"
"Hey! Well maybe I would get water for you if you wouldn't just waste it all!"
Kaoru looked indignant "I was going to use it to cook!!!"
"I know!"
Somewhere on the other side of the dojo, the two freinds sat next to each other on the steps to the courtyard, laughing.
"Sounds like they are at it again. Those two..." Sanoske shook his head. "They are worse than siblings!" Sano idily chewed on a fish bone and leaned back.
"Indeed." Kenshin smiled. "Do you think we should inform Miss Kaoru that the water pump froze over last night?"
Sano chuckled but didn't respond.
It was only just past dawn and the first signs of activity were showing at the dojo. Sanoske and Kenshin were sitting on the back steps, talking about nothing much, just enjoying one of the rare moments they could sit back and relax.
Sano was a fairly tall man who chose to wear sparse fighting clothes, even as the winter was just beginning to chill Japan. His hair was slightly tamed by a red headband and on his back he bore a symbol, the only clue to his rough past. He looked every inch a tough street fighter...from 1880 Meji era Japan, that is.
Kenshin, too, was wearing his favorite choice of garb, a simple and clean red shirt with comfortable pants. He was quiet. Nothing stood out that would suggest a cruel past save the unique crosswise scars on his left cheek. His ponytail of red hair was strange, needless to say, for a Japanese man. Nevertheless, even when he was relaxed, he gave a certain arua of confidence.
Neither of them seemed affected by the sudden gusts of freezing wind.
"I have always loved this time of year." Kenshin trailed off.
"Yeah...great for building tolerances. My favorite season for training."
Kenshin shook his head as if he had meant something different, but remained silent.
"Agghhh!" Yahiko came bolting around the corner, yelling.
Their reaction was little more than dumb surprise (a/n: you know, the kind where their eyes dialate and they both get a big teardrop??). Kenshin stood up and was about to stop the dashing Yahiko when Kaoru came charging around the corner in hot pursuit. Her face was completely red and she looked as though she was going to kill him if she could catch him.
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK YOU LITTLE TWIRP!!"
Yahiko laughed inspite of his fuming pursuer and shouted insults over his shoulder. "I'm not going to take it back, you big cow! Your cooking tastes like roadkill!"
Kenshin and Sano calmly watched as the two of them darted across the lawn and wound their way around the other corner of the courtyard.
"Like I said before..." Sano trailed off with a sigh.
Kenshin smiled to himself. Dispite the dissaproval Sano showed towards the constant bickering, he knew Sano wouldn't change a thing.
It was sometime later, after a small dinner that Yahiko didn't refrain from complaining about ("You call this Miso soup?! It smells like donkey piss!!") that Kenshin wandered outside to look at the winter sky. The sun is setting earlier these days. I can feel the frost setting in.
He stood there some time watching the stars appear one by one, his mind far away, until he realized someone was watching him.
He turned around. Kaoru was looking at him, with a small perplexed frown on her face. Apparently slightly troubled, Kenshin raised his eyebrows in question.
"Miss Kaoru?..."
She moved her mouth but no words came out, as if she didn't know quite how to word what she wanted to say.
"Lately..." She trailed off. "Well, I don't know quiet how to put it. It's as if everything has been perfect. Too perfect. I feel like things have been too quiet this fall...as if...as if, its the calm before a storm. And yet..."
They were quiet for some time, both dwelling on their own thoughts. It was Kenshin who broke the silence.
"And yet its as if, by thinking of it, you are wishing it on everyone." He finished the sentence for her.
"You have felt it too?"
He nodded solemnly. "Indeed. These passing months it has weighed heavy on my mind. Sometimes I lay awake and wonder...it just seems to perfect to be real. What is next? Something is coming.."
He seemed very detatched, as if he was speaking more to himself than anyone else. Kaoru, however, was hanging on his every word, tears threatening to well up in her eyes.
"Kenshin..."
His head snapped up, apparently out of his train of deep thought. When he saw the look on Kaoru's face, his mood quickly changed. He flashed a winning smile and shrugged off the somber conversation.
"You really shouldn't take any heed, Miss Kaoru. It's nothing really. Just the old superstitions of the oncoming winter*!"
*(a/n: in ancient Japan, it was believed that the season for contemplating was winter. In turn, it was also beleived that spirits were most active during winter, so naturally, it was a season that people became more cautious.)
"Your right." Kaoru tried for the same tone of nonchalance and failed horribly.
Kenshin looked at her intensly, serious for only a moment more, than turned to head for his room.
"It's cold out tonight, Miss Koaru. Perhaps you shouldn't be out so late." He smiled. "I am off to bed. Good night."
"Good night Kenshin." She stared at his retreating back a moment longer, thinking hard. A cold gust of wind blew her kimono about her bare feet. She shuddered against the oncoming night and pulled her sleeves about her as best she could. Sighing, she turned and headed back inside the house.
(somewhere behind the door Kaoru was about to slide open) "She expects us to eat this?! This mush isn't fit for dogs! What kind of hospitality is this?!!"
Kaoru grimaced at the door, her hand hovering next to the latch, ready to burst inside and kick butt.
"That ungrateful little jerk. Maybe I should force feed him the dogs chops...see how much he'd like my cooking then..." She grumbled to herself angrily and slowly slid the door open, but not before she turned and had one last look at the stars for the night.
He was battling feircely. It was nothing he couldn't handle though.
Every strike he saw coming, every single one.
~A reverse strike backhand into a foreward stance thrust. From there, knock him out of the stance. Strike the eyes. Throw him into the man behind in a tiger stance.~
Easily the red haired youth slew one after another until all he had left to deal with was the leader.
He smirked. ~The ringleader, huh? He will fall like all the others.~
"Prepare to meet the fate of my sword, like all your men." He took up a strong stance, sword at the ready. He goaded the leader on in much the same fashion for a minute or so. There was battling still taking place to his far left, but he didn't care. He would anger the leader; make the leader charge in blind rage. This would make him easier to slay.
The leader said nothing. He only picked up his sword and focused steadily on the brash red haired man in front of him.
~He is smart. He will be a good challenge. The Mekishuroi Clan have a good reputation for swordfighting.~ The red haired youth grimaced with pleasure.
"Meet your doom Battosai."
What ensued was an epic battle of two experts. Metal clashed on metal, the twinging filling the night air. Masters of footwork, they wound their way around each other, intertwined in sweat and blood. The red haired boy struck out deftly, aiming for the mans heart. The man, being the amazing expert he was, dodged, but only barely. The sword caught him on the shoulder with a sickening thud sending blood spattering everywhere.
Using the few seconds when the boys blade was still in his shoulder, the man struck out with blinding speed and caught him across the chest.
Both drew back, favoring their injuries. Breathing raggedly, they stared each other down, seizing the opponant up, waiting.
The man made a sudden motion, as if something to his left caught his attention. He smiled and looked back at the red haired boy who seemed confused at his opponant's new interest.
"Fare well Battosai, until we meet again." He motioned over his shoulder. "You might want to help your girlfriend."
With that, the leader and his remaining men withdrew, leaving all the dead and wounded on what was now a horrific battlefeild. The boys eyes dialated and he stood paralyzed on his spot for several seconds.
A slow moan from the gut was coming from the other side of the battlefield somewhere over to his left.
He dropped his sword and ran as fast as he could. When he got there, a girl was lying on the ground. She was peirced through the middle where she had stepped in front of a hit for him, sparing him his life.
"No..." He cradled her head like it was made of porcelain. "This was supposed to be the last time...the last mission, remember? We were going to be wed..." His tears were falling on her face to mix with her own.
"I...I...love..." Her hand reached up to touch his face softly. With her last word, it fell limply to her side and her icy blue eyes slowly fogged over.
"NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"
Back in the dojo, Kenshin awoke screaming, in a cold sweat.
He willed himself to be calm and listened intently to see if he had woken anyone when he heard something he hadn't expected to hear at all.
"Hmmm..." Kenshin grimaced and picked up his sword, advancing quietly towards the door. "Now who would be about the house at this late hour..."
Silently he slipped from the room and into the hallway, stealthily pursuing the sound of soft footsteps. How unlucky that an intruder would pick this of all the dojo's in the area...the new home of the legendary Battosai...
Author's Note: Oooh! The story is finally coming together...a little...okay, so the story is taking a little while to get interesting, but I promise that there are some really AWESOME plot twists coming up. new characters, new bad guys, and whats this? And intruder? stay tuned because i promise that more bloody battles, sappy love scenes, and intriguing people are about to show up in the next chapter "Hello Dear Stranger". Read and review. ^_^