A/N: Hey, minna-san! This is my first fanfic, so please be kind! If the
title and Ch. Titles don't make much sense now, just wait, they will!
Disclaimer: I own a little Kenshin statue, and a little Sanosuke statue, and ..oh, well, who am I kidding? I DON'T OWN RUROUNI KENSHIN!!! So.please don't sue me, I'm just a penniless student..
And on with the fic!
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Chapter 1: Lost in Blood ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sweat.
Blood.
Tears.
The building blocks of the Meji Era. Blood, freely flowing from living veins before lives are taken. The days of the Revolution, where manslayers wreaked a reign of terror, leaving a trail of blood in their wake. And the greatest of these, known only as manslayer, as the Hitokiri Battousai...
Kenshin Himura sat under a tree, bodies littering the ground around him. Quickly tearing strips from his tattered gi, he bound his arm tightly, stopping the flow of blood staining his skin and dripping onto his hakama and gi.
"Battousai!" a cry ripped through the woody battleground as a man stood out in the open, then took off running towards Kenshin.
"What do you want?" a cold voice seemed to rip through Kenshin's throat, his yellow eyes blazing as he anticipated battle and bloodshed.
"I...want your life...you killed so many of my comrades..." the man gasped.
"And you...will be joining them." Kenshin flexed his arm, testing the tightness of the bandages. Slowly, he licked blood off his sword as he circled into a fighting stance.
Yelling, the two swordsmen ran at each other, swords being pulled from their sheaths as their sandaled feet hit the wet, cold ground, stained with old and new blood.
"Die!" Kenshin's eyes blazed as his sword bit into the man's heart, tasting blood again.
Faces switched, times changed.
Faces.
Blood.
Falling, the man's sword caught Kenshin's cheek, carving its way until the man fell, limp, to join the bodies littering the forest floor.
Kenshin's breath caught, as he put a hand up to his cheek, feeling sticky blood begin to flow.
'Stupid.' He thought. 'I must be tired...to drop my guard and let something that stupid happen.'
He brought his hand back in front of his face. There was blood running off of it. Frowning, he knelt by a small, cold stream, washing off the blood. Holding out his sword, he flicked the droplets of blood off of it and sheathed it. Tearing yet another strip of cloth from his gi, he wet it in the stream and held it to his face, deep in thought, still berating himself for being so careless.
'Stupid. Stupid. How could I be so careless?'
Wincing as he applied pressure to the wound, Kenshin narrowed his amber eyes as he surveyed his surroundings.
'I suppose I can stay here for the night.'
He slumped against a tree, sword across his knees as he closed his eyes, senses all completely awake and on guard as he let his brain sleep. He knew that if anything were to happen, his instincts would take over.
Sleep does not come easily to a manslayer.
Faces. So many of them.
The face of Hiko Seijuro, warning against involvement in the war...the face of the man he had just killed...
Faces.
Eyes clouded in death, clouded in hate, clouded in fear.
The smell of blood. Covering everything, staining the heart, the soul. Blood-red vision, the narrow slits of his own yellow eyes. The last thing they would see before they died.the last thing so many people had come to fear and hate, had seen in their last seconds.
Blood. So much of it.
Blood.
Stains.
Everything it touches.
'My...hands...'
Faces.
So many of them, the faces of death...coming back to haunt...
"Nooooooooo!!!"
Kenshin sat up, sweaty and breathing hard, woken by his own tortured screams. He looked at his hands, as if expecting them to be dripping blood.
Looking around, he remembered. He was safe...for now. In his own bed in the dojo, in his own twisted and tangled sheets. But...the ghosts of the revolution, haunting him at every turn, seemed to come back every night worse than the previous.
'But...'
Kenshin thought.
'I have not dreamed...the revolution...so real in years...why now? And why...'
Kenshin's hand reached up to touch his scar. His violet eyes widened in shock as he felt blood. Slowly, dreading what he might see, he brought his hand down to his face.
Clean.
'But...I felt it...'
"It was real!" He whispered.
Kenshin's body stiffened as he heard footsteps outside.
'Kaoru-dono. I have wakened her...again. Best to pretend sleep and not worry her.'
Kenshin quickly closed his eyes and laid back down on his futon as he heard soft footsteps outside the shoji.
"Kenshin?" a soft voice called out quietly, gently.
'Kaoru-dono.'
Slowly the shoji screen slid open, and Kenshin felt Kaoru's gaze linger on his face before it closed again and he heard her soft footsteps recede.
Slowly, he opened his eyes, gazing at the ceiling.
'Once a manslayer, always a manslayer.'
He sighed, fingering his scar.
'Faces...blood...Why are my dreams always haunted, the gentler ones overwhelmed? Lost.... in blood. Why, every time I try to sleep, am I drowning in blood and painful memories?'
He closed his eyes, hoping, praying, that sleep would come.
But sleep does not come easily to a manslayer...
In her room, Kaoru sat on her futon, looking at the shoji she had just walked through. She sighed, a single tear threatening to spill down her face.
'Kenshin. Why do you suffer so much? You insist on being lonely, unhappy....do you really want to be tortured for the rest of your life?'
"Kenshin."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey, minna-san, hope you enjoyed reading this! Gomen if it's a little short, but I want to make sure you people like it before I write a lot more. So, if you review, I promise the next Ch. will be longer. The more reviews, the longer the Ch. Is and the sooner it gets posted.SO PLEASE REVIEW! Yes, that little button over there, click it and I will be sooo happy ^_^ .. 5 Reviews gets another Chapter, 10 gets it up by Wednesday! REVIEW!
Disclaimer: I own a little Kenshin statue, and a little Sanosuke statue, and ..oh, well, who am I kidding? I DON'T OWN RUROUNI KENSHIN!!! So.please don't sue me, I'm just a penniless student..
And on with the fic!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 1: Lost in Blood ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sweat.
Blood.
Tears.
The building blocks of the Meji Era. Blood, freely flowing from living veins before lives are taken. The days of the Revolution, where manslayers wreaked a reign of terror, leaving a trail of blood in their wake. And the greatest of these, known only as manslayer, as the Hitokiri Battousai...
Kenshin Himura sat under a tree, bodies littering the ground around him. Quickly tearing strips from his tattered gi, he bound his arm tightly, stopping the flow of blood staining his skin and dripping onto his hakama and gi.
"Battousai!" a cry ripped through the woody battleground as a man stood out in the open, then took off running towards Kenshin.
"What do you want?" a cold voice seemed to rip through Kenshin's throat, his yellow eyes blazing as he anticipated battle and bloodshed.
"I...want your life...you killed so many of my comrades..." the man gasped.
"And you...will be joining them." Kenshin flexed his arm, testing the tightness of the bandages. Slowly, he licked blood off his sword as he circled into a fighting stance.
Yelling, the two swordsmen ran at each other, swords being pulled from their sheaths as their sandaled feet hit the wet, cold ground, stained with old and new blood.
"Die!" Kenshin's eyes blazed as his sword bit into the man's heart, tasting blood again.
Faces switched, times changed.
Faces.
Blood.
Falling, the man's sword caught Kenshin's cheek, carving its way until the man fell, limp, to join the bodies littering the forest floor.
Kenshin's breath caught, as he put a hand up to his cheek, feeling sticky blood begin to flow.
'Stupid.' He thought. 'I must be tired...to drop my guard and let something that stupid happen.'
He brought his hand back in front of his face. There was blood running off of it. Frowning, he knelt by a small, cold stream, washing off the blood. Holding out his sword, he flicked the droplets of blood off of it and sheathed it. Tearing yet another strip of cloth from his gi, he wet it in the stream and held it to his face, deep in thought, still berating himself for being so careless.
'Stupid. Stupid. How could I be so careless?'
Wincing as he applied pressure to the wound, Kenshin narrowed his amber eyes as he surveyed his surroundings.
'I suppose I can stay here for the night.'
He slumped against a tree, sword across his knees as he closed his eyes, senses all completely awake and on guard as he let his brain sleep. He knew that if anything were to happen, his instincts would take over.
Sleep does not come easily to a manslayer.
Faces. So many of them.
The face of Hiko Seijuro, warning against involvement in the war...the face of the man he had just killed...
Faces.
Eyes clouded in death, clouded in hate, clouded in fear.
The smell of blood. Covering everything, staining the heart, the soul. Blood-red vision, the narrow slits of his own yellow eyes. The last thing they would see before they died.the last thing so many people had come to fear and hate, had seen in their last seconds.
Blood. So much of it.
Blood.
Stains.
Everything it touches.
'My...hands...'
Faces.
So many of them, the faces of death...coming back to haunt...
"Nooooooooo!!!"
Kenshin sat up, sweaty and breathing hard, woken by his own tortured screams. He looked at his hands, as if expecting them to be dripping blood.
Looking around, he remembered. He was safe...for now. In his own bed in the dojo, in his own twisted and tangled sheets. But...the ghosts of the revolution, haunting him at every turn, seemed to come back every night worse than the previous.
'But...'
Kenshin thought.
'I have not dreamed...the revolution...so real in years...why now? And why...'
Kenshin's hand reached up to touch his scar. His violet eyes widened in shock as he felt blood. Slowly, dreading what he might see, he brought his hand down to his face.
Clean.
'But...I felt it...'
"It was real!" He whispered.
Kenshin's body stiffened as he heard footsteps outside.
'Kaoru-dono. I have wakened her...again. Best to pretend sleep and not worry her.'
Kenshin quickly closed his eyes and laid back down on his futon as he heard soft footsteps outside the shoji.
"Kenshin?" a soft voice called out quietly, gently.
'Kaoru-dono.'
Slowly the shoji screen slid open, and Kenshin felt Kaoru's gaze linger on his face before it closed again and he heard her soft footsteps recede.
Slowly, he opened his eyes, gazing at the ceiling.
'Once a manslayer, always a manslayer.'
He sighed, fingering his scar.
'Faces...blood...Why are my dreams always haunted, the gentler ones overwhelmed? Lost.... in blood. Why, every time I try to sleep, am I drowning in blood and painful memories?'
He closed his eyes, hoping, praying, that sleep would come.
But sleep does not come easily to a manslayer...
In her room, Kaoru sat on her futon, looking at the shoji she had just walked through. She sighed, a single tear threatening to spill down her face.
'Kenshin. Why do you suffer so much? You insist on being lonely, unhappy....do you really want to be tortured for the rest of your life?'
"Kenshin."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey, minna-san, hope you enjoyed reading this! Gomen if it's a little short, but I want to make sure you people like it before I write a lot more. So, if you review, I promise the next Ch. will be longer. The more reviews, the longer the Ch. Is and the sooner it gets posted.SO PLEASE REVIEW! Yes, that little button over there, click it and I will be sooo happy ^_^ .. 5 Reviews gets another Chapter, 10 gets it up by Wednesday! REVIEW!