Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin does not belong to me. Never has and probably never will. *sighs* Humans always desires the things they cannot have.
Hitokiri Tenshi-Prelude to Rurouni SoujiroA Shadow in the Night:
"I'm home," Hitokiri Battousai said flatly as he stepped into the house. A faint fragrance of white plums filled the air as a beautiful lady bowed to him in respect. She had long dark hair tied low, and aside from her silent beauty, she was a typical Japanese woman with a unique accessory of a sash that was draped on her arms and hung loosely behind her.
The man stepped past her, not uttering another word. The woman smiled lightly as she slid the door close.
"Tomoe… do you really love that man?" a voice whispered into the night. A girl with sparkling sky blue eyes and long starry midnight blue braid sat on a roof across from the couple. She would have nearly passed for a Japanese if not for the short-sleeved Chinese-styled shirt she wore over her white dress, currently hidden under a black hooded cloak.
She watched quietly watched the shadows move behind the screened doors. It was a two-some family, just like what hers used to be… Against her will, unwanted memories flooded her mind…
"But sir, this human is much too young to bear children. She is a mere child herself!" a voice said meekly.
"Quiet! It is a female, and with her I can gain an heir to inhabit to continue my rule! With a newborn body, I can finish my capture of this moon, and begin on Saturn," a dark voice stated maliciously. With a sinister smile, he relentlessly began to make love to a little girl of five years. The child lost all sense of reality and knew only that of sorrow & pain. Her memories of a now dying kingdom that was once her beloved home disappeared into the subconscious oblivion in her painful cries…
Battousai abruptly looked up from his dinner, startling Tomoe. His amber eyes gleaming as he picked up his katana and approached the door.
"What is it?" Tomoe asked fearfully. "Please don't let it be her!"
"Someone alone," he said coldly as he stepped out. He scanned the rooftops were he had last felt the ki. He wouldn't tolerate any danger that dared to come so near to his home and Tomoe. Scanning his surroundings a last time, he only felt the presence of an innocent young child, and then returned inside calming Tomoe.
"Too close," the girl frowned. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She kept a child's form of kenki up, still hiding a hitokiri's. Since she had learned about ki, she discovered she could complete mask hers into nothingness. But she only took the pains to do so when she was around the legendary manslayer. Invoking it used to take concentration and energy that left little room for anything else. But it took less and less as she began to get the hang of it. It was a matter of suppressing the pain but keeping the young innocence and gullibility of a youth.
Before leaving, she looked back once, "I promised to protect you and to never fight him. But can you protect yourself from emotions?"
Author's Note: Please feel free to correct me, for I am no Kenshin expert. Especially of the Bakumatsu era. [That is the term right?] Would anyone mind telling me when Tomoe died? It would help a lot. Anyway, please review, I know it was short, but this is a shorter story to tell, and is a little more planned out than some of my other ones… Heh heh… R&R onegai!