Scraps of Time
Disclaimer: Save up, save up… *Mutters furiously* I will own Rurouni Kenshin, even if it is the last thing I do! Just you watch! One day, you all will have to rewrite your silly disclaimers, making me the owner of the series instead of Watsuki. *Looks at meager funds* …that might take a while…
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I really hate Tokyo, I really do. Himura Kenshin gave a gloomy look at the fog surrounding him. It was heavy, and it was the kind that was opaque. It would be difficult to see enemies coming. Kenshin, with his superior ki sensing ability, found this only irksome, but he was reluctant to rely on it solely. The Forest of Barriers still gave him nightmares to this day. Maybe all his days.
Enough with depressing history! Just focus on getting out of here. There were only a few more miles until the city of Tokyo ended and the countryside began. The town was quiet, almost too quiet. It betrayed the activity outside of the capital, with the farmers rioting and the government giving out empty promises left and right.
To think that the proud Ishin Shishi has become the very thing we despised. I pity the Shinsengumi at times. Deep, introspective thoughts came to him more often now, as rurouni. When he was Battousai, things were simpler.
Receive target. Find it, track it. Kill it. Erase it from existence. Kill the witness. No one may see me kill and live.
Kenshin shuddered. It was all too easy to ease back into that mindset when he was fighting. It was too easy to flip the blade over, and make sure that enemy wouldn't hurt anyone ever again. The thrill of swordsmanship… it continued to excite and disgust him at the same time.
I thought I was done with depressing. He fingered the rough hilt of his sakâbatô. He had long, slim fingers. They could've been the fingers of a farmer. Or perhaps an apothecary. But the Powers-That-Be decided Kenshin made the very best play toy, dropped a sword in his hands, and patted his fuzzy red head in bemusement at his protests.
Kenshin was almost too busy contemplating his lot in life to notice the bright flare of ki behind him. It was pure light-blue, flashing righteous anger and anxiety.
"Hitokiri Battousai!"
What the-? What is it now?
Kenshin turned, blinking innocent violet eyes. Gets them every single time.
And then: Why is she coming at an assassin with a wooden sword? Is my reputation that low?
In the eleventh year of Meiji, in the middle of Tokyo, this story begins…
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Author's Note (Because this is everybody's favorite part of fanfiction *sarcasm*):
DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN MANGA CHAPTERS 165 ONWARDS, OR TRUST AND BETRAYAL!! SPOILERS COMING UP!!Yeah, I wanted to do this. Really bad. I noticed that Tokyo is a focus point in Kenshin's life. Think about it. Tomoe was from Edo (renamed Tokyo) and we all know what happened to her. Kaoru came from Tokyo as well (duh). So things kind of came into a circle for Kenshin. Worst moment in Kenshin's life, meet best thing to ever happen to him. I'm not saying Tomoe is bad, necessarily, but you got to admit, she left him a whole lot worse than when she found him. Now on top of being a killer of men, he has to deal with the grief of killing his own wife. She woke him up to the horrors of killing, and set him on the path of rurouni, but she still messed him up. But I digress. If you want my true feelings on Himura/Yukishiro Tomoe, go read Tears by me. (Shameless plug…) And, Tomoe fans (you know who you are) please don't kill me for my rant. I love her too! I just like Kaoru more. What can I say? I like it when the girls are hotheaded, because I can relate to them. (I punch my boyfriend as well…) Ah, I better cut this off. Your eyes are most likely bleeding from too much boring Author Rant. See you later.