Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin and all of its characters are property of Nobuhiro Watsuki.
Rurouni Kenshin – Meiji Swordsmen Tales
Chapter 1: The Rise of a Demon
March 30th 1868
It was hot.
That was the first thought he had once he regained consciousness.
Then the massive pain followed.
It felt as if his entire his body was on fire, and the temperature was so high he was certain his innards would melt. He violently struggled in the floor, trying with his hands to put down the flames that were consuming his body from the inside, obviously to no avail.
Was this what his victims felt when he used his Homura Dama against them?
Even the air became unbearable hot the moment it went to his lungs. For a brief moment, he even thought steam and smoke was coming out of his nostrils, just like a dragon would do before spitting out a stream of fire from his mouth.
Despite the massive pain he was feeling at that moment, that mental image made him grin.
Yes.
He was strong. Just like a fire-breathing dragon.
Against all logic and common sense, he was still alive.
This single fact occupied his mind, which strangely, felt extremely calm despite the protest of every nerve in his body. The more he pondered on it, the more the physical pain started to recede, allowing him to slowly recover his senses.
He began to remember what had happened and how a mistake on his part had reduced him to this sorry state.
The bitter taste of having been betrayed by his own comrades began to turn into rage. The immense fury began to make the physical pain insignificant to him.
Katsura and Okubo.
Yes, he was certain they had been the masterminds behind this failed and treacherous assassination attempt. They had been plotting at his back to get rid of him now that the victory of the Ishin-shishi over the bakufu was certain. The battle of Toba-Fushimi of two months ago had been the turning point of the war and thanks to it; the Tokugawa regime was finally in a hopeless, desperate defensive position, unable to do anything but wait for the Ishin-shishi to reach Edo and topple once and for all the decrepit regime.
He should have noticed earlier the intentions of his comrades considering how petty the battle at the Tokugawa stronghold of Kofu had been. Yesterday, while a small squadron of Imperial forces occupied the stronghold, one of the last stubborn fortifications that refused to accept the inevitable change that came with the flow of time, the main bulk of the army headed to the nearby town of Katsunuma, outnumbering the shogunal forces 10 to 1. The outcome of the battle was obvious before it even started.
And despite this, Katsura and Okubo themselves, two of the main figures of the Revolution, had asked him to perform this particular job, reason why he could not refuse if he wanted to keep gaining their favor thanks to his skills. His assignment had been to kill the single bakufu officer that tried to flee the castle in the confusion of the battle. It had been an extremely easy job despite the fact that one of the most famous commanders of the Shinsengumi, none other than Kondō Isami, came out of nowhere and tried to fight to prevent him from committing his deed. Nevertheless, one of the last Wolves of Mibu was exhausted and wounded from the battle at Katsunuma and barely escaped with life from the encounter with his flaming sword.
Lying on his back, his blurred vision began to focus again, the blinking stars in the dark sky greeting him from above. The pain was still there, and he was sure it would never completely go away, but it was becoming bearable for his body to endure it. A little more and he would be ready to decide what would be his next step.
He smirked when he thought once again of the idiotic panting fool that tried to challenge him with an extremely poor form of the Hiratsuki attack. Isami was in far worse condition than he thought at first when he saw him performing the trademark attack of the Shinsengumi in such a crude fashion. Blocking such horrid attack would have been a disgrace for his honor as a swordsman, reason why he simply played a little with the now toothless dog for his enjoyment.
Isami didn't take long to notice he was being simply toyed with, reason why with a curse, he retreated and escaped in the darkness of the night. The Hitokiri at the service of Chōshū could have killed him, perhaps he should have done so just to put the man out of his misery, but seeing how his stubbornness was almost that of a fanatic, he deliberately let the fool go. Had Isami been at his prime, he would have gladly taken his head. But instead he could only see a poor, confused man, fighting in the losing side of the war, reason why he decided that the once prideful Shinsengumi commander was not worth to taste his blade.
And become his food.
That encounter had been disappointing considering the thrill and excitement of the violence that had engulfed the streets of Kyoto not too long ago.
He now realized that not killing Kondō Isami in that moment had been the mistake that almost cost him his life.
He had been pondering so intensely on how exciting his battle could have been with that man had he been in perfect condition, that he let his guard down for a moment and only noticed the arc of the blunt weapon right when it was only millimeters away from his eyes.
They had been waiting for him, hidden behind the corner of the Kofu stronghold where he was supposed to turn in order to reach the settlement where Katsura and Okubo were waiting for him. Instead, someone greeted him back swinging what felt like a steel hammer in the forehead.
At least his attacker had not gone unscathed he thought sourly. He had managed to cut down the mongrel with his Homura Dama and heard a shriek that assured him that the bastard surely received a mortal wound before letting the darkness take him away.
Judging by the horrible smell that filled his nostrils with each air intake, he was sure they had tried to burn him down to ashes, surely as some sort of poetic justice given the nature of his sword techniques, which left only charred corpses behind.
His current situation was due to a mistake of his part.
A mistake he would make sure to never commit again.
Still, he was sure those morons feared him. A lot. If not, why had they not even dared to shoot him or slice his throat while he was unconscious? Had they thought he would come back to life in that moment to kill them for using such a dirty trick to get rid of him?
That, he decided, was the fatal mistake those morons committed. And he was going to fully exploit it to his advantage in order to get revenge.
Yes. The Mugenjin he stole from the master swordsmith Shakku Arai not too long ago was going to soak in the blood of those who betrayed him, sharpening the blade and his technique even further.
The literally, smoking swordsman, finally recovered the strength to stand up. He absurdly noticed that he was naked since his gi and hakama were gone, as they had become ashes but he didn't care. However, despite his newfound strength brought by the thoughts in his head to bring retribution to his former comrades, trying to incorporate was almost impossible to do so, since his limbs cried in excruciating pain at the most minimal effort.
Despite that, he managed to stand up.
He noticed he was in the middle of a clear spot in a forest, not too far away from the Kofu fortress. Most probably they had carried him to this place before setting him on fire. His vision blurred for a second and for a moment, he was sure he was going to faint again. Knowing that letting sleep claim him again would surely be fatal, he gritted his teeth and using nothing but his force of will, he forced himself to stay awake.
He was thirsty.
Looking around, he realized the pale moonlight was reflected somewhere in the forest, not so far away from him. That could only mean that a body of water was there and it could serve him to quench his thirst.
He slowly began to walk in that direction, each step requiring a titanic effort.
As he walked, he reproached himself and cursed. Perhaps his intentions had become way too clear, more than he actually expected. Lately, every time he received a black envelope, not only did he kill bakufu officers with brutal efficiency, he also tended to eliminate everyone else in the surroundings in a burst of flames, be police units, Shinsengumi members, women and even children. He did not care. He loved the intoxication of power he always got from wielding his sword.
After all, the flesh of the weak was the food of the strong.
He finally reached a pond and kneeling in front of it, he closed his eyes for the exhaustion. Forming a cup with his hands he brought the cool water to his mouth over and over again in quick motions.
The water, he noticed, was strangely warm in his throat.
If you are strong you live. If you are weak you have no choice but to die.
That had always been his philosophy and what had managed to keep him alive in this cruel world, making him stronger than everyone else. Yes, he surely was even stronger than the infamous Hitokiri Battousai.
He frowned, both because of the hot water in his mouth and the thoughts he was having of his predecessor, who had managed to, unintentionally, get the fame and glory he had always longed for.
The irony, according to Kogoro Katsura, when he sought him in order to substitute Battousai as an assassin of the shadows for Chōshū, was that his first Hitokiri didn't want such glory and intended to be an anonymous sword. Nevertheless, his skills and the fear he inspired in the hearts of the men of the bakufu had been enough to turn him into some kind of celebrity. Hitokiri Battousai became even more famous when Katsura himself appointed him to directly fight the Shinsengumi in Kyoto through guerrilla warfare.
It had been downright ridiculous, to the point that half of the Shinsengumi and other police units of the bakufu patrolled Kyoto every night with the sole intention to cut down the red-headed demon with the cross shaped scar in his face who had been decimating their units ever since he reappeared in the frontlines after a strange period of absence. The fame Hitokiri Battousai had gained was so great, that virtually all of the most prized swordsmen of the bakufu, who were supposed to be hunting and cutting down more Ishin-shishi after the success of the Shinsengumi in killing Sakamoto Ryōma not too long ago, seemed to be blinded by the feral thought that one of them would be able to bring the demon down.
Perhaps Kondō Isami and Hijikata Toshizō had taken Battousai's affront personally and instead of defending the Shogunate, they only wanted revenge.
And yet, to his surprise and disappointment, he had heard that Battousai had simply vanished after the battle of Toba-Fushimi of two months ago, which only added more fame and glory to his name. It was a shame actually. He had wanted to meet him, at least once.
And prove that he was stronger.
Some said he had been sent in a secret mission, to kill none other than Yoshinobu Tokugawa. Others said he went mad after killing so many and committed seppuku. What everyone was sure about was that no one could have killed him. The red-headed demon was simply invincible and if he died, it would have to be because of his own hand.
He once inquired Katsura about his predecessor, but the leader of Chōshū refused to say anything about it, despite the rumors that said that he had been the last man Battousai had talked to before disappearing.
The fact was that Battousai had become a symbol of hope for the Ishin-shishi, as that single man had been able to survive against the toughest odds only with his sword and the sole mention of his name was enough to fill with the terror the hearts of the oppressive men of the Bakufu. However, now that the man had vanished, he finally became legend, and the Ishin-shishi were now strong enough to fight the shogunate without having to resort to him as their hope for victory.
Once his burning throat was satisfied, he pondered on the situation.
The bakufu was finished. It was only a matter of time before the regime crumbled under the might of the Chōshū-Satsuma-Tosa alliance. Its victory at Toba-Fushimi had prompted many other domains that had remained neutral so far to declare themselves in favor of the Emperor and offered military support to the alliance to prove their new loyalties. Sadly for him, his wounds would take a long time to heal and by the time he recovered, the war would have long been over.
His reflection in the water was suddenly illuminated by the moonlight, as the clouds were lifted by a sudden gust of wind, leaving him momentarily stunned.
His grossly deformed face greeted him back. He even noticed that all of his hair including his eyebrows and eyelashes were gone, leaving nothing but his bright red eyes staring intensely at himself, like two burning pieces of fire.
Fire that came straight from Hell, he thought with a grin.
Instead of cursing, he began to laugh loudly, like a maniac and finally, submerged his right fist with a punch in the cold water surface the pond, all the way to his elbow, erasing his reflection from the liquid surface.
A sizzle and the vapor than immediately began to rise from the water due to his extremely high corporal temperature just made him grin further.
This was only going to be a short delay for the inevitable.
Yes, the Chōshū-Satsuma-Tosa alliance was going to be victorious and they would become the new masters of Japan, after expelling the Tokugawa after two and a half centuries of iron rule.
Nevertheless, he knew all the weaknesses of the new government before it was even formed, as he had carefully studied Katsura and his companions, Saigō and Okubo, and could read them all like open books. That knowledge and all the assassinations he had committed on their behalf would become his triumph card to control them. He only had to wait for the right moment to strike. Meanwhile, he would focus in recovering and regaining his strength to finally claim what he swore was going to be his; ever since he picked up a sword.
Shishio Makoto once again began to laugh with a feral grin. He would rise from the ashes to become the bane of those who tried to get rid of him because of the fear he inspired in their hearts and minds. He would come back like a demon straight out of Hell, bringing a cold, ruthless vengeance with him.
It would take some years, eight, perhaps ten. But it didn't matter. Now, he had plenty of time. He could wait and make plans.
And once put them in motion, he would get rid of the fools that innocently thought he had been eliminated.
He would strike back and in a single, brilliant movement, Japan would be his!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Author notes:
Contrary to what you may think, this is not a story about Makoto Shishio (as much as I would like to write that, perhaps some other time), rather, think of these as interludes between some of the main scenes that the Rurouni Kenshin tale left unexplored, so you can expect a good amount of various characters to appear. I'm trying only to create a bridge between a series of events that I think deserved to be explored more by the Nobuhiro Watsuki but was not the case. Anyways, those would be no more than 10, so that's more or less the number of chapters you can expect from this series of "Tales".
I think that in order to write a decent Rurouni Kenshin story, you need to do some historical research in order to grasp the main events in which it takes place, as well as the setting and some of the motivations of the characters, so here are the facts I needed to check out for this chapter in order to write it.
*** Historical facts:
The Battle of Toba-Fushimi: it occurred between pro-Imperial and Tokugawa shogunate forces during the Boshin War. The battle started on January 27th 1868 and lasted 4 days, ending in a decisive defeat for the Tokugawa shogunate. As a result, the little prestige and morale the Tokugawa still had was seriously weakened, and many domains that had remained neutral so far since the conflict began, were finally convinced of the changes that Japan was going through and decided to support the Chōshū-Satsuma-Tosa alliance. After this battle, the fall of Edo soon followed with relatively very little bloodshed.
This is the last battle in which Kenshin participated as Hitokiri Battousai. Shakku Arai even scolds him from running away when he gives him the sakabatō now that "the real battle was just only beginning" (with this line, Watsuki probably meant that the Ishin-shishi would soon have to build a new government, a much harder feat than destroying the old one).
Nevertheless, the war did not end until June 27th 1869; one year later with the Battle of Hakodate, as some domains in the North of Japan, supporting the Aizu clan, continued to resist. During this course of events, Aizu was crushed by the Chōshū-Satsuma-Tosa coalition. It is during this period when Megumi Takani lost her family in Aizu for obvious reasons. The Battle of Hakodate marked the end of the old feudal regime in Japan, and the end of armed resistance to the Meiji restoration. By this time, Kenshin had been already wandering through Japan for 1 full year.
The Battle of Kōshū-Katsunuma: it followed the one of Toba-Fushimi on March 29th 1868. This was the last significant military action in central Honshū during the Boshin War and the one that sealed the surrender of Edo Castle (marking the political end of the shogunate) the following year.
In chapter 55 of the manga, Kenshin deducts from Okubo's silence that Shishio was killed by his comrades during the Boshin War. I only considered appropriate on part of the Ishin-shishi to try to get rid of Shishio after this last battle with which they had finally crushed the old government and were getting ready to establish a new one, so he could not blackmail them.
*** Character notes:
Kondō Isami: He was a Japanese swordsman and official of the late Edo Period, famed for his role as commander of the Shinsengumi. Saitō Hajime was part of Kondo's faction. He was defeated at the battle of Kōshū-Katsunuma, reason why I decided to use his brief intervention as the excuse that got Shishio distracted. Isami surrendered soon after and was beheaded at Itabashi, Tokyo on May 17th 1868 by the new government, formed mostly by the samurai of the Chōshū and Satsuma domains, accused of the murder of Sakamoto Ryōma.
Sakamoto Ryōma: He was a leader of the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate. He played the critical role to make possible alliance between the Chōshū and Satsuma provinces, which had always been bitter enemies. As an outsider from the Tosa domain, Ryōma played a critical role in bridging the gap in trust of the domains, thus forming the alliance that would topple the shogunate. He was murdered on December 10th 1867, at the Ōmiya inn in Kyoto, supposedly by Shinsengumi members for having formed the Chōshū-Satsuma union.
*** Glossary notes:
Bakufu: term which refers to the system of government of a feudal military dictatorship, exercised in the name of the shogun.
Ishin-shishi: literally translates as "men of high purpose". Usually applied to the anti-shogunate, samurai primarily from the southwestern clans of Satsuma, Chōshū, and Tosa
Seppuku: a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved only for samurai and was part of the samurai bushido honor code.