The Glass Maiden and the Blossoming Flowers of Kyoto

The Glass Maiden and the Blossoming Flowers of Kyoto

A Rurouni Kenshin fanfiction by Uo

Disclaimer: I only write for my own enjoyment, these are all Watsuki's characters. The only thing that's mine is the storyline and..yes. If I owned Kenshin, I would be so awesome and you would all know my real name .

It was a starry night, silence was in the air. There were footsteps, a pomegranate tree just beginning its growth. The air was brisk, this man, Battousai, he ran through the brown brittle branches, across the sparkling river without any fish. Closer and closer, he came at his target. They were near the river as well. Finally, he approached them. As always, the Battousai was ready.

He slid his sword right in the last man's eye, violently thrusting it inwards. Another mission had been complete, he could finally rest. Three bodies lay on the ground. A wound had formed from the bottom of his eye to the side of his lip. Blood slowly dripped down onto the cold, cruel ground. Quietness, he was Kenshin again; he was no longer going to kill for the night.

Kenshin looked down at the man who had given him this injury. Evening was on the surface, he stood there as Katsura's men began to clean the body. "Well done Himura. You can go back now" Seikei walked over to the body, smiling his usual peculiar smile.

Kenshin cleaned his sword, wiping off all the stained blood. The same thing had happened.

Every other day, he would be asked to serve as the heaven's justice. Or so he thought. Not once, not even with his master, did he feel the feeling of warmth, the feeling of home. That had been gone for many years, ever since his mother had left him for the other world. Never once did he came home and could really call it "home."

He stood there, quiet as usual, flushing his face with brisk cold water. His hands became numb, but this was never a trouble for such a hitokiri like him. They had named him "Battousai," meaning one who had mastered all the Battoujustsu techniques. His hands would react to anything. Never regret. He was killing, murdering for the new era to come, the era in which peace would finally collapse upon the Tokugawa.

Kenshin washed away his blood and put the cloth he had used aside. He looked into the reflection of the puddle of water and blood he had made onto the floor. Nothing was seen besides crimson liquid. There was a shadow. His silhouette imprinted onto the ground. Always, everything was unclear. The real answer was just what he heard, from his master. He would never find out by himself.

That is why he always slept with his sword next to him. All those spirits of the people he killed did not bother him. He had seen too many suffer. One moment could make a difference. Like that time, if his sensei had come just seconds before, his sisters wouldn't have been dead. He didn't need to learn swordsmanship. Maybe he would have to though, to protect, the innocent. The ones who had never bloodied their hands were the ones worthy. Yet, he saw himself as nothing. One day he would die.

He accepted this. A drop of water dripped into the puddle making it a bit clearer. Kenshin closed his eyes, thinking about the story his Otou-san, whom he could barely make out the face of, had told him.

The red haired man blinked, looking up at the moon. It was so white, so pure. Like the glass maiden…

That fairy tale he had heard years ago from his mother. He still remembered that dream he use to believe. It was all sham. Yet, coming from the mouth of his loving kaa-san, it always made him feel free. Alive. Whenever he killed, he would think of this story, about just one day, when the whole world could change.

"Your grandma use to tell me this story when I was young. It is called, The Glass Maiden. A long time ago, there was a beautiful maiden. She was poor, and she worked at a small tea house, not as a geisha, but as a simple maid. Never did she get paid much, but that was the only thing she could do. Sweep along side the rooms; cook the food for the men that went inside. Everyone wondered why she never sold herself off to anyone. She always said that word, always that word. "Home." So many men fell for her, but after many months, years of waiting, they gave up on her. They said she had a glass heart. One day, she fell in love with a dark, cruel prince, but she softened his heart. He became a much kinder ruler…but, she had to pay a price."

The little boy opened his eyes wide, wondering what happened to her.

"He was at a battle, a very huge one. Many soldiers swept into his homeland, he was on a killing rage. At that time, he even killed women and children who looked like the enemy. He was foolish. For at that time, he was about to kill a young child brought by a family from the country he was fighting against. The woman he loved opposed. She cried and cried, embracing him, making him hold back. Then, realizing he had made an unwise mistake, he raised the sword very much above his head, swiftly attempting to commit seppuku...Shinta? Is this getting to scary for you? I can stop." The little boy shook his head. "Okay, well, right when he almost hit his head, she went over him. Blood spilled upon his cheeks as she fell down. Right after that he smiled, tears in his eyes, saying that word she always said, 'Home...home…Let's go home now.' With that, he took the sword out of his love and stabbed it into himself, dying as well."

At that time, Kenshin didn't realize the significance. "K-kaa-san, why did she do that?"

She smiled, putting down her long black hair. "So he wouldn't have to kill himself."

"But he died."

"Yes, I know, I'm sure they are both happily living together in the heavens now."

"Kaa-san, why is she the glass maiden if only her heart was glass?"

"That's because…she made the prince's… whole world change…Shinta-chan, what happens when you put my glass tea cup over your Otou-san's candle light?"

"The flame disappears."

His mother nodded in approval."Correct. The maddened flames, burn out. You are very right my son. And what happens when you put unready glass over a burning flame?" Her tone of voice became softer and a little sadder as well.

"Well, it also disappears, Kaa-san."

"Just as your father during in the fires of Osaka..."

It had been so many months; Kenshin had almost forgotten that he even had a father.

To this day, that was all he saw in the story. Brief nonsense. There was no such thing as a glass maiden. There was no one who could completely change his life, for he knew. It would end in a flicker, just like his father. He was going to be devoured into the flames of hell one day. However, he did not care.

His Kaa-san use to call him "Shinta." It was before he became an assassin.

Battousai himself wasn't really the mindless one, which everyone thought him as. Of course, he himself did not show any emotion, and lies to himself made him detached to the whole world.

She took the piece of her hair tie and wrapped it around a bleeding scratch on her finger. The men stared in disgrace as the head lady, Tomoki, came inside. "Is there anything wrong?"

"This ugly maid of yours isn't all that good. You should fire her. She broke the cup as well. Now how am I supposed to drink my sake?"

The head lady glared at Kaoru, who was picking up the shattered glass on the floor and quickly sent her out. Kaoru sat down in her small room, which was under the whole building. It smelled terrible, with mice running around many times during the night. She wiped the long, dusted mirror and looked at her whole reflection. Her body was slim, and her obi fitted perfectly on her. The designs on her kimono were very plain; all she had on it were green bamboo leaves hanging down from a bamboo grove in the corner. She touched her face, full of burn marks and scars in which everyone thought were real.

They all said that she was nothing compared to the beautiful geishas in the teahouse. All of them had neatly shaved eyebrows, drawn over. There faces were white, and they always wore golden kimonos with butterflies and sakura petals everywhere. Every man who stepped in had called them the most surpassing women in Japan. Maybe it was true, they were all taught from a very young age how to please men, to make all their worries go away. The one wish of a geisha, no one ever knew, was to have a man who loved her enough to take her home.

Kaoru was different. When she first came to their doorstep, she was very young. The head lady was a geisha then, the head geisha. Many men favored her, but she never left the teahouse, no matter what. At that time, Kaoru had just run from her burning hometown. She was covered in scars and fainted at the doorstep. It smelt so good; the fragrances of expensive perfumes filled the air.

When she found out years later where she really was, she made her burns and scars look permanent, every now and then, she would hear the men say, "That girl would be fine, if only she didn't have those hideous scars." That did not matter. She didn't come to sell herself away. Kaoru once said to herself, "I have a place to live, to stay, and to work harmlessly. I will live here all my life as the ugly maid." Since then, she had never taken off those artificial burns.

They say a woman's dream was to find someone whom she loved the most and get to marry, have children. It is not true. For Kaoru, she would die here. No man could take a place in her heart, men were vile creatures. She hated them, especially the ones who came to the teahouse. Everyday she served the same group of men, the poor ones who could not afford much. They had no self respect, and all of them were just desperate oafs trying to find life. Idiocy, that's how she described them. Those people, they think they are so rich and famous? It is not true. No man ever admitted their own faults. They just went their way.

She hated them, she didn't even like the geishas who served them. It was disgraceful. Then at that time, she wanted to runaway and never come back. Was it possible?

No.

They say a house with geisha does not need maids, but it is not true. Work in the morning, work in the night. Sleepless at times, even. No one cared for her there, except, surprisingly, the one of the top geishas. Everyone said her beauty was so natural, it was unbelievable. Unlike other geishas, this woman did not have to shave off her eyebrows or make her face white, it was already perfect. All they needed to do to her was dress her up in a plain white kimono, and the men would drool until they ran out of saliva. Her name, Megumi. Besides her beauty, Megumi was also known for her rudeness and refusal to serve many men. All she ever did was put sleeping poison in their sake cups, making them wake up the next morning thinking they had spent the whole night with the top geisha.

Midnight had approached, Kaoru laid on the mat, looking at her wrist. Tied onto their since she was little, it was a small jade charm. On the front, there was kanji, which said, "Kamiya Kaoru." On the back was a tea cup. Before her parents had died, she remembered. The family specialized in making tea and teacups. What was so unusual about them was that they didn't use the usual ceramics. The Kamiya family always used glass.

End Chapter One