Disclaimer: Obviously, I never have and never will own Rurouni Kenshin or any other manga series. But that won't stop me from imagining how things go or should go in their plotlines.
AMAKAKERU RYU NO HIRAMEKI!
His final technique had succeeded, pulling its struggling opponent into its vortex and into the path of his reverse edged sword.
Kenshin had succeeded.
His aching limbs gave way under him and he collapsed to the ground. Panting, he heard the crash of Shishio's body behind him.
"The Amakakeru Ryū no Hirameki has settled it." He vaguely heard Sano say.
Yes... he had beaten Shishio. Without breaking his oath.
Or had he? He had used a technique that could kill even with a sakabatou, and the blow Shishio had taken had been far worse than the ones he had dealt to Soujiro and Aoshi. He turned around, with some trepidation, hoping to see his opponent unconscious and not dead.
To his mingled relief and dismay, Shishio was not only alive but still conscious. Kenshin assumed a defensive position, prepared to resume the fight. He paused when he saw his opponent's condition.
"Gu... Ga... Gyaaah!"
Shishio moaned in pain, choking and frothing at the mouth. He was writhing on the ground, clawing at his wounds desperately.
Kenshin could only stare in surprise. Something had changed in Shishio. What had happened to him? The wounds dealt by his sakabatou were neither deep nor debilitating. Was he faking his pain?
"Stop!" He raised his head to see Yumi running towards them. "He can't anymore!" She yelled, genuine worry in her voice.
"Because of his burns, he can't fight for more than fifteen minutes! Look at his body! He's had enough!" she pleaded desperately. "Don't hurt him anymore! Please..." Her pleading eyes met Kenshin's, and he relaxed.
Yes. It was enough. He had no intention of causing anyone's death. Even a man like Shishio was still a living being. 'Even a hitokiri is still capable of love.' he thought, briefly thinking of the woman who tamed the Battousai, long ago. Calmly, he lowered his sword. And then he saw the gleam in Shishio's eye.
"You're too soft, Battousai. The fight isn't over." No sooner had he heard these words than he felt Shishio's serrated blade impale him in the stomach. Through Yumi's chest.
No! Yumi... Tomoe! As Shishio withdrew his sword, visions of a very similar scene from long ago hovered before Kenshin's eyes.
His sword, cutting through Tomoe to get to Tatsumi; her body shielding him from the ninja's final blow.
He collapsed, overcome by pain and shock. Yumi fell back into Shishio's arms, mortally wounded, and the bandaged swordsman shot his opponent a look of triumph.
Kenshin couldn't believe his eyes. "Shishio... you bastard! You'd go so far.." he growled, his voice quivering from rage and surprise. "You'd betray the woman who loves you just to win?"
"Betray her? That's what you'd say..." replied Shisho, his voice not showing a hint of remorse. "She understands me better than anyone... and I understand her better than anyone else could."
As he said this, Yumi stirred, still alive. "I'm...so...happy." she whispered, tears running down her face. Tears of joy.
"For the first time.. I was useful in a fight. I was always so jealous of Sou and Kamatari-kun.. For Shishio-sama the fight is everything.. and all I could do was take care of his body when it ended. It was always at the back of my mind... But this time it's different."
Kenshin and his companions could only gaze at her dumbfounded.
Yumi turned to Shishio. "Please win. Shishio-sama... Yumi will be waiting a few steps ahead on the road to hell..." With these last words, her body went limp.
"Komagata Yumi... a woman never blessed in life." muttered Houji. "But in the end she found happiness-"
"Don't give me that bullshit!" yelled Kenshin angrily, punching the ground in frustration. She'd given her life willingly to save Shishio... and he had exploited the chance... just like Kenshin had. Did that mean he was no better than Shishio? "Where's the happiness in death? If she'd lived she might have had more.. it could have been different-" he stopped. The pain had finally caught up to him. His stomach was pierced... he'd lost too much blood.
"But it is time to speak of a different death now... yours and mine." Shishio taunted, watching Kenshin collapse a second time. "The one who gets up and delivers the next attack... the one who survives will be the victor!" Then he grunted and himself fell to the ground; red steam rose from his wounds, his body temperature having risen to the point where the coagulated blood from his wounds had started evaporating.
For a while, both the combatants lay on the ground, waiting for the end. But try as he might, Kenshin could not bring himself to get up.
"Haa...Haa...Haa..."
My entire body is exhausted...and I'm losing a lot of blood. I've felt near death many times, but this is the first time... Is this... true death?
Wait. He couldn't die yet, could he? He had a mission...
But Shishio's lost nearly all of his strength as well. Those injuries will take him years to recover from... And even if he comes back again, the ones who bear the new age should be able to stop him. So the mission entrusted to me ends here...
"Please win, Shishio-sama. Yumi will be waiting a few steps ahead on the road to hell..."
'Are you... waiting for me ...Tomoe?'
No... She wouldn't accept someone as tainted as me... she already had Kiyosato... And even if she did, I would never get to see her... her pure soul would be in heaven, while this blood drenched hitokiri only deserved to go to hell...
With these last thoughts, his world went black.
Then he opened his eyes and all was white.
'Where am I?' Nothing but white, all around him. Is this.. hell? Then he heard someone speak. "Anata..."
His head whipped around, surprised to hear a voice he hadn't heard in many years. And then he saw her.
The woman he had loved. The woman he had killed; in the same manner as Shishio had killed Yumi. "Tomoe..."
Her face looked surprised, even worried. "Kenshin... what are you doing here?'
"Tomoe..."
"You shouldn't be here."
"It's been so long..." he rasped, his voice barely louder than a whisper.
"I know." She came closer, and he smelled her scent, and he knew beyond all doubt that it was her. White plum.
She took his head in her hands, her left hand tenderly caressing the cross-shaped scar on his cheek.
He grabbed her hands with his own and stared at them longingly. He felt the softness of her unblemished skin. This is real. She is real.
Then he let go, remembering what had happened. "Tomoe... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."
"All is forgiven, anata." Now her voice betrayed a trace of sorrow.
"By you. But I can never forgive myself. I broke your heart. I killed you. I... dyed the snow red."
"You also saved me. You healed my heart."
"Tomoe..." He pulled her into his embrace and he broke down, tears streaming down his face. "I don't deserve this."
"Even a hitokiri deserves happiness. More so a rurouni." Then she broke the embrace and wiped away his tears. "Which is why you must not die yet. It is not your time. They are still waiting for you. She is still waiting for you."
Kaoru... he had forgotten her.
'I didn't say that I want Battousai to stay here! I want the rurouni!' Her words, accepting him for who he was, despite his past.
'Kenshin...' Her lonely, distraught face, streaked with tears as she watched him leave, helpless to stop him.
"If you sacrifice yourself now a girl who came all the way from Tokyo just to see you will be very unhappy." His master's words before he agreed to teach him the succession technique.
"I will wait for you. But till then, follow your heart and be happy, anata." said Tomoe, a silent tear now running down her cheek , contradicting the smile on her face.
"Yes..." Kenshin answered quietly. He couldn't die. Not while he still had things to live for; things to fight for.
Kaoru's face. "Kenshin... let's go home to Tokyo together, okay?" Home.
"Yes." Let's go home.
He turned around, ready to leave.
Then he woke up for real. And the battle continued.
TO BE CONTINUED(In the manga, of course)
Author's note: Whew. There you have it. My first story. Took me hours to write...Sadly it hasn't come out as well as I wanted. Pardon the extensive repetition of manga dialogue. It was supposed to take place in between manga events after all.
Considering the similarity in the manner of Tomoe and Yumi's deaths I found it strange plot-wise that Kenshin did not have any thoughts of Tomoe or even make any reference to her when he was apparently dying from Shishio's blow. The real reason, of course, is because Tomoe wasn't introduced till the end of the Kyoto arc. But plot-wise there's no explanation for this. Seeing how a great oppurtunity was missed here, I decided this would be the subject of my first fic.
Although this fic is classified as 'supernatural' I've left it ambiguous whether Kenshin really met with Tomoe's spirit or whether it was just a dream; just like Watsuki does in such sequences in the manga.
Read and review.