Author's Notes: I started this story as an experiment. In other words, I have no plans on finishing it. If anyone is interested in continuing this story, let me know. Rated for language and some violence.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.

Prologue

"Tell me where you've hidden it, you BITCH!"

A burly man of about thirty years of age slowly advanced upon a woman in an alley behind a shabby apartment complex. She trembled in fear as her eyes darted about the area, searching for any means of escape. However, the situation seemed hopeless, as he had her cornered. About fifteen yards away was a parking lot, no doubt reserved for the tenants. The area was deserted.

"I…I don't know what you're talking about," the woman finally managed. "I…I've never hidden anything…nothing…that belongs to you…"

Far from being mollified by these words, the man, instead, grew angrier as each second passed. He glowered at the woman before him, his eyes bulging. If he didn't have it…if he didn't get it…he didn't know what he was going to do.

"Where did you hide the money?" he asked in a deadly voice, trying desperately to keep his temper in check. He didn't know how long he would last without it.

The woman paled, as she backed as far into the corner as she could. She regretted ever having married this man. When he dated her, he had been different – at least he had seemed different, at any rate. This was not the man she had fallen in love with; the man she loved would never hurt her. She never knew him as the abusive alcoholic that stood before her. No, her lover had always been loving and caring. She didn't understand what had changed.

Despite not knowing the sudden change in her husband's behavior, she knew one thing: she couldn't tell him where the money was. They needed the money to pay their debts, and if she allowed him to squander it on drugs and alcohol, there was no way they could go on.

Her husband seemed enraged by her silence. The little patience he had was gone, and he solved it the only way he knew how: he hit her.

The impact threw her against the wall, and despite herself, she cried out in pain.

She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face and blood slowly trickling from her lips. She let out another anguished sob, before pleading, "You…I c-can't believe y-you…do you know w-what situation we're in? If we spend…more than we HAVE…oh…y-you…CAN'T! P-please…"

This had no effect on her husband, other than infuriating him even further.

Again, he struck her. "TELL ME WHERE IT IS!"

She whimpered, doubled over with pain, yet still, she said defiantly, "I…I…w-will not."

Enraged, he dealt a staggering blow to her small figure again, this time in the abdomen. A horrible gurgling sound issued from her mouth, as she clutched her stomach. She closed her eyes, biting her lip to keep from crying out. She hated being controlled by this…animal, and she refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had hurt her. She stared at the man who had held her captive in her own home, a kind of man she thought she would never marry. Suddenly, a look of realization slowly crept onto her face.

It surprised him as much as it surprised her to see that she had stopped crying.

Instead, she stood up, looking at him with pure venom and hatred. It almost scared him to see the fear slowly creeping out of her eyes, gradually being replaced by something stronger than fear. The steely glint seemed to almost scream the word 'rebellion'.

"You idiot…I can't believe you. I don't know why I've stayed with you this long. I'm going to leave you – and I'm going to turn you in, for what you've done to me. I HATE you. Honestly, I'm going to have take you to court and have you put into jail where you belong!" she said shrilly.

She stood for a moment longer, wiping the blood from her lips.

As she attempted to walk past him, he finally seemed to realize what was happening. With surprising dexterity for a man his size, he leapt after her, grasping her wrist. She struggled, attempting to escape his strong grip, but, to no avail.

"Let me GO! SOMEONE HELP ME!!!" she tried to scream, but she found that fear had frozen her voice. She tried again, but this time, there was something else in the way.

Quickly, her husband clamped her mouth closed with his hand and then wrapped one of his arms around her neck, squeezing as tightly as he could. In her last moments, she realized the mistake she had made by rebelling outright. She should have quietly thought of some way to lure him into a trap. Knowing these thoughts were useless, she fought as hard as she could to escape. She struggled for as long as she could, before finally becoming still, her arms falling limply to her side and her muffled cries dying away. She was dead.

It took him a full minute to realize what he had done.

Instinctively, he knew that he couldn't keep the body in his possession. It would have to be disposed of.

Quickly, his eyes darted desperately around the area for somewhere…somewhere…

With his sweat beading on the back of his neck, he looked hastily about the parking lot.

His eyes strayed to the slightly open trunk of a small blue sedan.

Opening her eyes blearily, Misao sat up in bed. She squinted, wondering what had woken her up so suddenly. After a few seconds, the culprit was obvious – her alarm clock was going off loudly, not even considering the fact that she had been trying to sleep. She shook her head, smiling as she saw the sunlight streaming cheerfully into her room.

She remembered her grandfather trying to teach her the 'usefulness' of an alarm clock.

'Now, now, my pretty Misao. It's supposed to be ringing like that. The alarm clock is a GOOD thing. It wakes you up in the morning, so you won't be late for important things—NO! Don't BREAK the alarm clock. That's not how you turn it off. You press THIS button.'

Smiling at this memory, Misao mused that these words that her grandfather had tried to instill in her head had not yet settled. In her grandfather's words, he had yet to 'engrave the alarm clock properties into her block of wood'. He was always referring to the human brain as a 'block of wood'. Apparently, he had not finished this task yet, as she still considered the alarm clock as her mortal enemy.

Then, Misao suddenly remembered why she had wanted to wake up earlier. That thought made her even happier.

She quickly swung her legs over the bed, and dug through her closet for a suitable outfit. After making her decision quickly, she laid the clothes out on her bed, and hurried over to her bathroom. Picking up her toothbrush, she studied herself critically in the mirror. She pulled a comb through her hair, wincing as it caught onto the tangles. She then braided it methodically, having spent years practicing this task to the point of perfection.

She hurried over to the kitchenette, grabbing a cereal bar and groping around for her keys.

Misao hummed joyfully as she closed the door to her apartment. She was happy: the sun was shining, the grass was green, the birds were chirping – basically, everything was perfect. She had just gotten a great job offer, which was sure to get her out of this hellhole.

However, today, she wasn't going out to work. She planned to drive all the way to her grandfather's house to deliver the good news personally.

Misao's grandfather lived in the country, where dirt roads and jackrabbits thrived. It would take a good day's drive to arrive there, but Misao wanted to take him by surprise.

She happily skipped to her car, jiggling her car keys. Oh…how happy Jiya is going to be for me! I can't wait to see his face when he sees me. I'll bet he's going to be surprised! I don't think ANYTHING can ruin this day for me!

With that, she unlocked her car and got in. She started it up, and bent forward to turn up the radio. What luck! Even the radio seemed to be sharing her joy by playing her favorite song.

She pulled out of the parking lot, not bothering to keep her voice down as she sang along and ignoring the annoyed looks of the other drivers.

After driving for about three hours, Misao's legs were beginning to feel a bit cramped. Despite this fact, she still sang loudly along with the radio. It was better now, since there were no other drivers on the road. She could sing as loudly and as much as she wanted to without hearing anybody yell at her.

The scenery slowly turned from endless buildings to acres of empty land. She glanced at the landscape carelessly as she drove past.

Tapping the steering wheel to the beat of the music, Misao drove on, growing steadily more excited about the prospect of seeing her beloved grandfather.

While driving on a dirt road with particularly jagged rocks, she heard the telltale 'BOOMPHT' of one of her poor tires.

Groaning, Misao resolved that the first thing she would do after she got rich was to get a better car with better tires. She grumpily stopped the car and got out lazily to examine the damage of her tire. After studying it for a few seconds, she brought out her keys to get the spare from her trunk.

She began whistling as she fumbled with the keys, finally finding the right one and inserting it into the keyhole. It's okay, she thought, I can't let a burst tire ruin my happiness. All I have to do is change it, and then I'll be on my way…

As she lifted the lid of the trunk open, Misao saw something that made her scream in horror.

She blinked.

No…it couldn't be…

She blinked again, hoping that what she saw was just a horrible figment of her imagination. Just that morning – just now, she had been thinking that nothing could ruin the happiness of her success. But that was before she had seen the contents of her trunk.

No…I…I must be going crazy…

Misao slowly backed away from her car, not wanting to believe…

For what she saw in her trunk was the unmistakable body of a dead woman.

Author's Note: I'm not very pleased with the outcome of this chapter; this didn't end up being what I wanted it to be (the idea sounded so cool in my head!). However, this will never be continued (and so, in the big scheme of things, it really won't be that big of a deal). Again, if anyone actually feels like continuing it, let me know.