Summary: When death is something that haunts you and bites at your ankles, whom do you turn to? When your past is part of the future and the past is now your future, you have no choice but to turn to the icy eyes of the ex-leader and the Hiten Sword master as well as their rouge band of strange, loving people.
Aoshi/occ Pairing.
Stumbling Upon the Past: Chapter 1
The cold winter air swirled about the middle-aged man that walked the narrow path to a distant cottage in the middle of nowhere. A large sake jar clutched tightly in his rather large, rough hand. Eyes lazily wandering from the babbling creek to the dead trees and milky snow. Frustrated and cold, he didn't feel like spending the holidays alone for once. But he wasn't about to go spend it with his baka deshi and his merry group of runts and loners. (Baka deshi Stupid Apprentice) But now the baka deshi and friends where less loners then he was, in fact they weren't loners at all now that they had each other. Time was drifting away as they sun slowly began to set casting the clouds into a spiral of enchanting colors. Orange, pink and purple coated the darkening skies and once white clouds. Hiko's dark gaze drifting toward the thin, multicolor clouds as he took a large gulp of the bitter sake with in the jar. Only another mile and he could sit by the fire, getting drunk and waiting for the next 3 weeks to go by. New Years was in 2 1/2 weeks, nonetheless, he, the 13th successor of the Hiten Mitsurugi style, would be alone and bored out of his mind.
Feet slapped the ground as thorns and rocks sliced at them. Black western style pants ripped and torn. Black tank top clung to her wet and tired form as she raced through the wild forest of Japan. How she got to Japan in the early 1900's still confused the hell out of her and scared her but the bandits chasing after her forced her to forget that and to keep running.
'One minute I'm being forced to kill the man I love and the next I'm wandering around old Japan. WHAT THE FREAK!' she thought to herself, emerald eyes glancing behind to find she hadn't lost the angered Ahou's she escaped from. (Ahou moron)
She tripped on a fist-sized rock, twisting her ankle and sliding on the muddy ground, slicing her shoulder on a cluster of sharp rocks. Forcing her weak and exhausted body to stand, she began running again, or at least trying to.
"I need a miracle." She panted, trying to forget the killing pain in her feet and legs.
Leaping over the bushes, she stumbled on the rough path of sand and dirt. An exhausted growl escaped from her dry mouth. The pain in her ankle was unbearable and brought tears to her eyes as she forced her body to stand once again.
The loud crash of a body hitting the path not to far ahead caught Hiko's attention and distracting him from stargazing. A soft smirk placed on his mouth made his dark eyes come alive in the moons soft glow on the hopes of a battle, a woman in distress.
She froze when she heard footsteps coming from down the path, heading her way and fast. "Kuso" she muttered to herself. She must have forgotten her katana at the Empire's palace in the year 2010. The bandits in the forest weren't to far off and the girl's blood was boiling with anger. "God, what's the point in putting me here if I'm just going to die anyways." She swayed as she tired not to faint or fall to her knees.
Out of the darkness, not even 10 feet away from her appeared a man. Strong, tall, and extremely well built. His old styled Japanese clothes clung to his blocky frame that rippled with amazing muscles. White and crimson cape hung from his brood shoulders. The wild and long ebon hair tied back with a single pure white ribbon.
The large group of bandits after her couldn't possibly work with or for him. Not that this mysterious man couldn't handle them, there was no doubt in her mind that he could, but something about his aura latched onto her as a safety blanket and growled at the rouge, filthy bandits now on the other side of the bushes.
The bandits wasted no time to pay attention to Hiko. They lunged at the strangely dressed woman. He could see she was injured because even though she dodged their attacks and blocked with grace, she would wince slightly every time pressure was put on her right foot. He smiled admiring the girl's spirit and grace even when in deathly pain. A stray bandit stumbled backwards toward Hiko as he was struck with one of the golden haired beauty's fast punches. The loud sound of a clay jar breaking on a head echoed throughout the empty path way and surrounding trees, distracting the bandits toward Hiko's existence. This gave the young woman her chance to finish off the remaining 4 with swift attacks that Hiko could barely see. Stumbling past the sleeping ahou's, she slumped to her knees, bent over and trying desperately to catch the much-needed air she was dying for. Hiko slowly advancing toward her, tossing the rest of the broken jar to the ground and kneeling down on one knee beside the young girl. "You put up a good fight for someone about to faint of exhaustion and pain." He stated, but before the words could leave his mouth the girl tumbled into his arms, fainting from exhaustion.
His bored and frustrating day just turned into a strange and mysterious night.
She slowly woke, feeling light as air. 'What happened?' she dare not open her eyes; she didn't want to see the shinigami. (Angel of death.)But she soon began to feel the shooting pain in her feet and legs and realized she was anything but dead unless hellish fires were licking at her but she didn't feel hot but rather cold actually and the strong arms holding her and the firm chest she leaned against was anything but unwelcoming.
Hiko raised an eyebrow as the girl curled closer to him, as if freezing and searching desperately for warmth. He knew she was awake, her heart rate had grown and her breathing faster. Her eyes suddenly opened as she remembered what happened. Almost falling out of the mans arms. Her emerald eyes slowly rising to stare into his dark, almost ebon eyes.
She blinked in confusion. For one she was in old Japan, two she was in the arms of a man she didn't even know except that he had helped her slightly when she was fighting and three, she was being carried somewhere, God only knows where.
She panicked and tried to wiggle her way out of his grasp but failed due to her fragile state and his strong hold. "Who the bloody hell are you?" she asked, one hand clutching his cape and the other placed on his chest, she had stopped pushing to ask her question Hiko smiled at her actions. She was like the tanuki his baka deshi had married. He would have to come up with a nickname for her. Perhaps Neko. She was feisty like a cat.
"Hiko Seijiro the 13th," he replied coolly, glancing down at her and then back to the small house coming into view. "But the real question is, who are you and where did you come from?" he smirked on the inside at his words.
"That's 2 questions. But I'll answer anyway." She sighed, trying to forget the pain of her bleeding feet. "I'm Alexia Ramsey. I came from America 6 months ago to Japan but not this Japan. I must have some how traveled... in... time." The realization hit her hard. She had traveled in time. Being an archeologist this was one of the biggest break trough's in history when it came to all the failed attempts to travel through time to the past.
Hiko just about dropped the poor girl. "What year is it?" he asked her, suddenly curious about her knowledge of the date.
"December, 2010." She answer as if it was the stupidest question ever asked.
"You're wrong. Way wrong. Its 1897." He stated, watching the surprised look on the woman's face grow.
"That can't be right! I was just in the Empire's garden fighting...." She trailed off wondering if she was dreaming.
"Pinch me!" she said, making Hiko halt in his tracks. "Do what?" he asked, even though he heard her, he couldn't believe it.
"Bloody Pinch me!" she repeated, shifting herself to slide out of his arms and stand on her own, more or so on her left foot. He reached out and pinched her, confused even more by this strange girl, clearly not from his time. "Oro! That hurt!" she said as if he had done it with out permission.
"You told me to baka." He shot back before ushering the girl into the hut now right in front of them.
"Sit." Hiko stated boredly, pointing to one of the large pillows by the dying fire. She nodded, grabbing a few pieces of wood before placing herself upon the pillow. While she built the fire back up, Hiko collected a Gi from the laundry line just outside his house.
He returned shortly with a large dark green Gi in his hands, gently tossing the large piece of clothing to the girl he turned around and grabbed a clay bowl from the counter. "Change while I get some water." And before any reply could be given he was out the door, leaving the time traveling girl extremely dazed and confused with the new information and the hopeless dream of returning to her time.
Glancing down at her wet clothes she growled in frustration at how badly ripped and muddy her shirt was. It was far beyond saving, but her cargo black pants weren't that bad, just a small hole in the knee which she could easily fix with some string from her tank top.
Sliding out of her wet clothes, she curled into the large Gi that went just to knees, using the large black ribbon in her hair to tie it tightly around her waist.
Hiko watched the freezing water slowly fill the pale clay bowl. His mind wandering toward the new situation at hand. How could he believe that this girl had traveled back in time? Was technology really that advanced in her time? It couldn't be. By the look on the girls face when he told her what year it was, she about had a cow, clearly shocked and not expecting anything close to that answer. Realizing the bowl had been filled long ago and was no over flowing he picked it up, letting so of the water out so it was half full. Heading back to the hut he still thought about the seemingly impossible proof this girl was indeed from a time that had not yet passed for him.
She turned her eyes toward the straw door that swung to the side to allow entrance. Unknowingly holding her breath, hoping it was Hiko and not the idiotic bandits again. She couldn't stand now. Her sprained ankle was killing her and she was wishing she had some morphine at the moment. When the tall dark figure she had come to know as Hiko's entered the house, she released the breath she had been holding and relaxed, examining the tea set by the fire.
She was pulled from her thoughts when Hiko sat beside her and requested she turn toward him and placed her left foot in his hand. She arched a delicate eyebrow but complied to his request nonetheless. She hissed in pain as the cold mountain water cleaned her wounds. She hadn't noticed the pain from her left foot; her right ankle had distracted her. Hiko shook his head with a small smile growing on his lips at the woman before him. She seemed fearless and like a demon when battling, but now, she seemed as harmless as a fly. But then again, most women do have the charming magic to do that. From the stories he had heard about the Misao character that was now the leader of the Oniwabanshuu, she did that to rob idiot men who were out for fun. Of course that was before she met Kenshin and went back to the Oniwabanshuu because of his 'words of wisdom' as he had heard the Tanuki call them.
Alexia looked up at his face, trying to keep her mind from thinking about the pain in her feet. He was smiling. She looked down at her clothes and all seemed right, nothing showing that shouldn't be. Looking back up at him, curiosity got the best of her and she wanted to know why he was smiling and seemed so distant. She waved a now clean hand in front of his face and he blinked as if being a woken from a dream while awake.
"What?" he asked, as if he had done nothing wrong and was being accused of such. "Why are you smiling and so distant?" she questioned shyly. She barely knew the man and he was already smiling distantly around her and helping her willingly with only asking 2 questions about her. Most people would have asked her a million questions just because of her features. She was nothing like the Japanese. Her natural blonde hair and emerald eyes weren't something you saw everyday in Japan. Her features clearly spoke of her English/Cherokee heritage.
"I was merely thinking about how you seemed so fearless and like a demon while fighting but now you seem like a helpless, everyday, woman." He answered, now wrapping her feet in white bandages. This reminded him of that arrogant fighter that hung around Kenshin. The ex-fighter-for-hire always had his stupid feet wrapped and half of the rest of his body as well, wrapped in bandages as if it looked cool. 'Taking her to Tokyo would be best. My baka deshi has a doctor friend and supposedly the woman is really good at it. The Oniwabanshuu said that if I ever needed anything to come to them, well I guess I'm going to be taking them up on their offer.' The thought to himself as he got a "oh" reply from the exhausted girl who was pregnant. Yes. He could tell she as pregnant by her slightly growing, rounded stomach. It reminded him of his baka deshi's wife. She had been like that when she was about 5 months pregnant. "We're going into Kyoto tomorrow." He stated as he began wrapping the right foot, careful not to cause her too much pain.
"Why?!" she asked as if scared to leave the small hut. "Because I'm not sure if your ankles broken or sprained and you're with child and I think it would be best to get it checked on after your little roll and tumble stunt not to long ago." He replied in a fatherly tone.
"How.. Did you know?" she asked, stunted at both his father like tone and the fact that he knew without even asking her anything to do with children or her personal life.
"For one, you have a ring on, a wedding ring to be exact and two, I'd say you were about 5 months in. You're stomach is the size my baka deshi's wife was when she was with child." He responded as if everyone knew it. He had never been married but he picked up on little things like that every so often.
"Now get some sleep." He said, picking her up and moving her to the near by futon. He draped the covers over her small form and smiled as she began to fall asleep. Not even 4 hours into knowing her and she had found a way into his heart, like a daughter would her father. He didn't know why he felt this way but it was clear that Kami had sent her here for a reason and it would begin tomorrow at Kyoto. He wondered what Kami had in store for this young woman, this soon to be mother who was from the future. Who's future was the past.
I hope yall enjoy this. Let me know what you think and if you want me to keep going. I'll try and post another chapter either tomorrow (Thursday) or Friday. Not sure if I'll have time with exams just around the corner.
Yes, this is a Aoshi/Alexia pairing even though it seems like the main connection is Hiko and Alexia. But yeah, I've got this story all planned out, I just have to write it down during class and type it up after school.
Take care all.
TBC.....................
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