Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, but Midori was my idea.

The woman who was once known as Zetsumei Kurohyou lies in the arms of the one she loves and wonders if she is going to die.

Blood seeps from the deep wound in the center of her chest, flanked by two scars that flared angrily on her skin. Her senses are leaving her even as she fights to remain awake: she can no longer feel the arms around her waist or the warm body against which she is propped. She can only faintly taste the coppery blood that she knows coats her tongue. The sounds around her are distant; the voice that is repeatedly calling her name already sounds so far away.

Her sight, however, is as sharp as it ever has been. The face of her beloved fills the entirety of her vision as his tears and blood mingle and drip onto her own face. She can see his lips moving even as the sound of his voice fades to a slight irritation in her ears. Her eyes are closing now; the end is almost upon her. The woman's mind begins to drift.

Her blood is gushing from the wound in her chest as the man she loves clings to her, his voice desperate in her ear. He is angry; he is afraid; he is frantically worried for her. He is a notorious hitokiri; he already knows that no one survives a wound like hers. But he is a man who has found something he holds as precious; he cannot make himself accept the fact that his precious thing is about to die.

Somewhere nearby is her spiky-haired friend. It was through him that her beloved was brought back into her life. His laidback attitude, his casual acceptance of her faults and the horrors of her past have helped the woman to change from the cold, broken wreck she had been for so long back to the person she had been before betrayal and heartbreak had wrenched a hole in her heart long before a blade finally pierced it. The woman's friend has helped her to heal; now she will not have the chance to properly thank him. She owes him much; now she will leave her debt unpaid.

Somewhere nearby is the police officer whom she hates with a passion that brands her soul. This is the man who killed her beloved master; who propelled her into the life she has lived for so long; whose actions set her upon the road to bloodshed. This is the man against whom she has sworn an oath of vengeance. Now she will not have the opportunity to resend that oath – or to fulfill it.

And somewhere nearby is a man who is a monster in disguise – the insane killer who has claimed to love her, and has now driving his blade through her heart. She feels disgust at the thought of this man; disgust and self-hatred at the remembrance of what he has done to her in the time they have become reacquainted. Even now, as her life slips away from her courtesy of the monster's katana edge, she can feel the ghosts of his hands on her skin. Even now, as her face is spattered with his blood, his whore's blood, and her own blood, she can taste his madness on her tongue. His obsession with her has frightened her; it has overwhelmed her with its intensity. As he himself cradles the dying body of a woman who loves him – a woman he has surely killed as well – his madness claws at the woman's skin like physical hands grasping at her. Now his own actions will take the object of his obsession away from him forever.

The vision behind the woman's closed eyelids becomes peaceful as she feels herself sinking deeper into the blackness that calls to her. A faint grin flits across her bloodstained lips as she sighs, unmindful of the arms that tighten around her physical shell; unheeding of the voice that desperately calls for her. Peace fills her as the vision plays out in her mind.

She sees the man she loves with all of her tainted heart and soul. She sees her spiky-haired friend beside him, fishbone firmly clenched between his teeth as a grin lights up his face. She sees a young boy with a wooden bokken tied onto his back, his arms waving through the air as he shouts obscenities as the taller man. She sees a girl poised on the brink of womanhood, who walks beside her beloved and offers a gentle smile at the little boy's antics. They are all walking towards a familiar dojo. They are all smiling; they are all whole.

The woman watches as the figures she has come to care for slowly move away from her and knows that they will be alright without her. The girl will take care of her beloved as she promised, and the young one and her friend will help him find the peace he so desperately deserves. They will live and laugh and love and grieve together; and they will be happy.

As the world around her fades and begins to go dark, the figure of her beloved turns suddenly to face her. As one, the other three turn as well. There are tears on their faces. The smiles of before are gone.

As one, they all lift their arms and reach out…for her.

The lips of her beloved are moving. As the others begin to fade into the surrounding blackness, as he begins to grow dark, words float to her in the void. Words from the lips of the one she loves…

"Kabu…come back to me…"

A sigh escapes her as all fades to black: one word that she cherishes more than her own life is whispered for the eager ears of the man who returns her love.

"Kenshin…"