NightRain: The Biography of a Sword
Written: 19 August 2007
Posted: 22 March 2008, rev. 0
Category: Drama.
Summary: There are many reincarnation fics in which Kenshin has a another chance to work out his karmic debt with Tomoe. But what would happen if his sword, and not himself, was the one to make reparation?
Disclaimer: The characters and story of Rurouni Kenshin are the property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shonen Jump, et al. Used without permission. This work is for entertainment only, and no profit is intended.
Notes: At end of document
Glossary: At end of document.
1. Wailing the Dead
It was done.
I had kept my promise to the Ishin Shishi: I had seen them on the road to victory, and a better life for the common people.
Now it was time for other promises: one, to my slaughtered wife, that I would live; another, to myself, that I would never again use a blade with deadly intent.
Nothing remained of my obligations to an older life, and I was free to turn my back on the way of a hitokiri, and walk the roads of a wanderer.
I pulled my left forearm across my brow, wiping away the sweat and sting of battle. The hilt of NightRain's wakizashi caught the last glimmers of the sinking sun, and a gleam stood out from the silver eclipsed moon in its hilt ornaments.
No, I wasn't free yet. There was one more task before me.
On a small hill overlooking the left front flank of the Toba Fushima battlefield, two masterprieces of the swordsmith's art—four, if one counted the sheath knives—stood, braced against each other, the tips of their saya driven into the ground far enough to keep them standing upright.
The dimming sun's weak light ran down the outcurving lines of the lacquerwork sheaths, drawing a crystalline deepest red down the cave-black line of them, brilliant as bloody tears.
A short, redheaded man prostrated himself before them, murmured,
"I am so sorry, NightRain. Thank you for your faith and service."
He rose. He turned. He walked away without looking back.
A keening moan sang from the blades. It could only have been a trick of the wind across the saya, for blades do not sing of sorrow, and swords have no souls to mourn.
Owari
NOTES
This story was inspired by a beautiful set of daisho I saw at the San Fransico Sword show, a matched pair that were lacquered in a coral pink, with 23 different chysanthemums incised into various layers of the lacquer. Each flower represented a connection to the Imperial family on the part of either the Imperial princess or the Fushiwara prince she was marrying.
GLOSSARY
Hitokiri—an assassin or manslayer.
Wakizashi—Sidearm blade:shorter of the two swords making up the daisho set carried by samurai.
Saya—Sheath for Japanese sword
