Out of Time
A Rurouni Kenshin Fanfiction
By
Kitsuma
"Jikan no mirai kara itsu o umidasu," chanted a person. He was standing in the middle of what seemed to be a summoning circle. Five other people surrounded him at each of the main points, and as they muttered three words in time with the middle man's chant, the circle began to glow.
"Jikan no mirai kara itsu o umidasu."
"Kako. Genjo. Mirai."
The circle began to glow brighter and brighter until nothing but white could be seen. When the glow receded, a young woman lied on the ground. She wore unfamiliar clothing and was most obviously not Japanese.
"Boss, I don't think she is Japanese," one of the men said to the middle guy.
The middle man continued to stare at where the girl lay. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail, and her odd clothes that the man never saw foreign girls wear, lightly billowed in the night breeze.
"But maybe she knows Japanese," the middle man finally replied. He picked the girl up by her shirt and harshly slapped her to wake her up. The girl mumbled something, but she did not wake.
"Try again, boss," another man said.
"Don't order me around!" the middle man yelled. He glared at the man who had previously spoken, and he began to continuously slap the young girl. Finally, she showed signs of waking, and the man let her drop to the ground.
The girl grunted and rubbed her eyes. The men began to become clearer, and she shrieked. She shouted something in her language and crawled backwards in her panic. Her back bumped up against a tree, and she used its trunk to pull herself in a standing position. She said something else in her language, but none of the men could understand her.
"What language is that?"
"I think it's Portuguese."
"No, that is obviously Spanish."
"Maybe it's Scottish?"
"No way! It has to be Dutch!"
"You imbeciles!" the boss yelled to his underlings, "That girl is speaking English. Do any of you know how to speak it?" When his underlings shook their heads no, the boss growled, "Useless all of you! Maybe she can speak Japanese."
The man walked up to the shaking girl and as slowly as he could, he spoke to her, "Can you speak Japanese?"
"J-Japanese?" The girl stuttered. She obviously had a hard time pronouncing the word, and just because she repeated the last word did not mean she knew what it meant. "N-no?" She seemed to question herself. Her brown eyes furrowed, as if making sure she pronounced and said the right word.
"Damn," the boss cursed punching the nearest underling. She was most likely from the future, but they had messed up. Somehow, though he didn't know what went wrong. He glared at the girl who in turn tried to shrink away from his gaze. Perhaps there would still be use for her. He drew his sword that was at his side and pointed it at her.
The girl began to shake even more, and she bolted to the left. "After her!" the boss yelled. The men began to chase after her. It was obvious that the girl did not do much exercise and was easily being caught up to, but she kept her wits about her and used the terrain to her advantage.
It was not long when the men began to curse at not being able to find the woman. "Damn it to hell!" The boss yelled. "She is our key! We cannot let her escape. I want her alive, but use any means necessary to bring her back. Break her legs if you have to!"
"Yes sir!" the men replied before fanning out and continuing their search.
"Breakfast is ready! That it is!" a young man called out. Kenshin appeared out of the kitchen with the breakfast already set on the table behind him. "Please come get it before it get's cold."
At the mention of breakfast another young man and a boy holding a shinai came running towards Kenshin.
"Ah yeah! It's about time!"
"Hey kid! You have to share!"
"Oro?" Kenshin said. The two people had already stampeded past him and began to voraciously devour the food. A girl walked around the corner wiping sweat from her brow. "Good morning Miss Kaoru. You should hurry up before the food is gone, that you should."
"Thank you Kenshin," the woman replied with a smile before she turned it into a vicious glare at the boys. She took her bokken and hit both of them over the head. "Have some manners!"
"What did you do that for ugly!" the boy yelled back. He held his head and nursed the bump that was beginning to grow on there.
"What did you call me Yahiko?" Kaoru said venomously. She tapped her bokken on her other hand threateningly.
"Calm down Missie," the other man said. He was currently chewing on a fish bone, "You know the kid's just teasing you."
"You shut up freeloader!" Kaoru hissed. The man held up his hands in a defensive manner. "If Sanosuke is done eating, he can help Kenshin with the chores!" The man gave a nervous smile.
"I think I remembered something. Oh yeah! Megumi needs to check up on my hand!" he exclaimed. Before he could get up and run away, Kaoru hit him in the gut with her bokken, forcing him sit back down again.
"Oro?" Kenshin muttered, as he looked at the destruction. He sharply looked up when he felt a certain ki. He swiftly turned around to face the new adversary, but it was just a police officer walking up to them.
"Dammit Saito! Can't you see we are trying to have breakfast!" Sanosuke yelled. The police office only took off his hat and grinned before opening his wolf like eyes.
"A good morning to the Kamiya Dojo," he greeted coolly. His eyes betrayed the warmth in his voice. Kenshin was holding Sanosuke down, as the latter had red in his eyes.
"Good morning Mr. Saito," Kenshin greeted, though it did not hold as much warmth as it would have would he greet a friend. "What brings you to visit us?"
"The police department had gotten wind of some magic practices happening in the Chichibu forest. Some foot men found a magic circle, and a lot blood," Saito began to explain.
"What the hell does this have to do with us?" Sanosuke growled crossing his arms and glaring at the wall. Kenshin no longer felt the need to hold his friend back, so he released his hand from the fighter's shoulder.
"I take it that you want us to investigate this matter?" Kenshin asked narrowing his eyes at the police officer. His friends gasped and they all looked at Saito to see if this was true.
"Not quite Battousai," Saito answered, lighting his cigarette and taking a breath of it before continuing. "I want you to find the one they summoned." He took another breath and released the smoke from his mouth while he waited for the group to get over their shock.
"Summoned?" Kaoru asked with disbelief. "You mean the magic worked and they summoned something from that magic?"
"Did they summon a dragon? Do you want Kenshin to slay a dragon?" Yahiko asked with excitement.
Kenshin and Sanosuke remained silent. They kept their eyes trained on the man, and waited for him to continue speaking. After releasing another breath of smoke he continued, "Not a something, Kamiya Kaoru, a someone. We managed to capture one of the summoners. They attempted to summon a person from the future."
"They summoned someone from the future?" Sanosuke gasped. "Why would they want to do that?" he asked scratching his head.
"To take over Japan. By summoning someone from the future who would most likely know the history, they can avoid obstacles and theoretically take over," Kenshin answered his eyes dangerously narrow and full with anger.
"The Battousai is correct," Saito confirmed, "But the idiots messed up. They weren't specific with the details. They summoned a foreigner."
"The guy would still know a little of Japan's history right?" Yahiko asked looking at Kenshin.
"I'm not sure, that I'm not," Kenshin replied slightly smiling at the boy. "I do not know what the future is like, that I don't."
Saito took this moment to interrupt, "The girl speaks English and according to the prisoner she doesn't know Japanese except maybe a few words. She ran off when their boss pointed his sword at her. They are currently looking for her. Apparently, the prisoner had slashed her leg to slow her down, but the girl managed to lose them."
"She's injured?" Kaoru asked worriedly, "Then we need to get Megumi to treat it." She stood up to presumable fetch the doctor.
"If she is still alive, it has been a few hours since these men last saw her. That wound sounds deep. It could be infected," Saito answered. "Anyway, I want you lot to find the girl, while the police focus on finding the others involved in this summoning. Remember she doesn't speak Japanese." With that the officer flicked away his cigarette and put out the light and walked off.
"That bastard!" Sanosuke growled as Saito left, "Who does he think he is? Besides what does it matter that she doesn't speak Japanese?"
"You idiot!" Kaoru yelled, "Of course it matters."
"Well if you're so smart you explain it Missie," Sanosuke retorted.
"Since she doesn't know Japanese she will be suspicious of everybody. That she will. It will hard to get her to trust us, and to tell her we mean no harm," Kenshin answered for Kaoru, "Not to mention that she is wounded. She will be on her guard. That she will."
Sanosuke and Yahiko made a face that showed they understood. Kenshin smiled at his friends and looked away. Being from the future and a foreigner she would stick out. It should be easy to find her, unless she was nursing her leg wound.
"Yahiko, go get Miss Megumi. Tell her to come to the dojo. We will need her medical skills, that we will," Kenshin said turning to the boy with a smile. Yahiko nodded and with an 'I'm on it,' and ran off to fetch Megumi.
"What about us Kenshin?" Sanosuke said punching his fist into his hand. He was smirking and looked ready to go.
"We will look for the girl, that we will," Kenshin replied nodding to his friend. "Miss Kaoru, you are our trump card, that you are."
"Me?" Kaoru asked with uncertainty, pointing to herself in confusion.
"Yes. Since you are a woman, she should trust you more than us, that she should," Kenshin explained.
"Oh I get it!" Kaoru said with a smile.
"Well, let's get going before those goons find her before we do!" Sanosuke yelled getting impatient. The other two nodded and headed out to find the foreigner.
