Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, or any of the characters. I'm not making any money off of this, so please don't sue. Or whatever.
This is my first attempt at an RK fic, and my first writing effort in a long time, so be gentle. I've only seen a few episodes, almost all of which are from before #30… the end of the fight with Saitoh – so just assume that the whole Shishio thing never happened... Please forgive OOC behavior in everyone, especially Megumi, whom I'm seen basically nothing of. On with the fic.
Amnesia
"Oi!! Kenshin!!" Sano yelled at the retreating back of his friend. "Oi, wait up!!" But the redhead never paused. More than a little pissed, Sano ran to catch up. Kenshin had been gone for days, never a word to anyone, and now everyone was on edge – especially Kaoru. And everyone knows what happens when Kaoru gets worried… Sano and Yahiko had spent the last couple of days sympathizing with each other and comparing their aching backs from all the chores, and bruises from all the poundings. Needless to say, the two were less than happy with the source of Jo-chan's agitation.
Now here he was, chasing the cause of his recent misery down the deserted path leading out of town. That brought up a nasty thought: What if Kenshin were moving on? While the little family had assumed that the former hitokiri had decided to give up his wandering days, it was entirely possible that they had been wrong. Sano suppressed the strong desire to groan. He knew that he would follow Kenshin if that were necessary, but he had come to like Tokyo, and he knew that Kaoru would be heart-broken – and would probably take it out on the whole city!! There might be nothing left!!
However, Rooster-Head quickly discarded the whole notion. Even Kenshin wouldn't leave with no money and none of his worldly possessions. That still left the question, though, of where he was going… and where he had been the past couple of days…
Finally catching up with the smaller man, Sano shouted once again, "Kenshin!!" and raised his hand to grab his shoulder…. and suddenly found himself flat on his back, Kenshin's sakabatou sword at his throat, edge-side first. At first tempted to be outraged, Sano changed his mind when he saw the look in Kenshin's eyes.
"Hey, Kenshin… what's up with you?" Sano asked nervously. He had a bad feeling….
Gazing down coldly, Himura's soft alto voice asked sharply, "Who are you? Why do you call me Kenshin?"
Sano was definitely getting the creeps. "Um, because it's your name?"
"Is it really?" was the coldly sarcastic reply. "And what is yours?"
It was finally sinking into the ex-gangster's admittedly thick skull that this wasn't their Kenshin. Even the rurouni's painfully polite speech patterns were gone. Sano could think of only one circumstance in which Kenshin acted this way… "Sagara Sanosuke," he said in a defiant voice – well, as best he could with an extremely dry throat. After a nervous gulp, he added, "Hitokiri Battousai."
Kenshin raised an eyebrow. "You call yourself 'Hitokiri Battousai'? That's a laugh."
That certainly threw the chicken-head into confusion. "No, no. You're the Hitokiri Battousai!!"
"That's a dangerous accusation to be making, whether true or not. And let me assure you, boy, in this case I'm afraid you're mistaken."
Sano was getting rather sick of this game, and as his temper rose, his mouth started acting in way that his brain didn't quite approve of. "Oh, really, in that case, who are you, then?"
Cold violet eyes flashed with uncertainty, but the moment was gone as fast as it came. "That's not your business, Sagara-san. I simply wish to know why you call me 'Kenshin'. Tell me, and I'll leave you alone."
Frustration finally got the better of him. "I call you Kenshin because you are Kenshin!! Or do you mean that there are two short, slim, redheaded, purple-eyed warriors with backwards swords, a cross-shaped scar on their cheek, and a pink outfit wandering around Tokyo?!!" Sano had to pause momentarily to catch his breath. Didn't last long. "Not to mention I've never seen anyone except Kenshin move as fast as you just did – meaning you use Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu!!"
Now it was Kenshin that looked confused. Obviously, he was rather distinguishable. Suddenly, his free hand flew to his head, and he swayed, as if faint from pain. Sano would have risen to help, but the sakabatou was still held determinedly to his throat. But the sword quickly fell from Kenshin's hand as he sank slowly to the ground.
Sano climbed hesitantly to his feet, gazing uncertainly at the unconscious Kenshin. There was very clearly something wrong with his friend, but he had absolutely no clue what to do about it… Then his brain came up with a splendid idea! The fox-lady!! Surely Megumi would be able to help!!
Now all he had to do was get the prone body there. He'd heard somewhere that you shouldn't move victims of head injuries… or was it neck injuries? Well, never mind, Kenshin had been moving around enough before he fainted that it probably didn't matter. Groaning as he considered the long run back to Megumi's place, Sano threw Kenshin over his shoulder and started jogging back into Tokyo, never once allowing himself to seriously contemplate Kenshin's behavior or its implications.
*****
Shinta cautiously opened his eyes till they were just slitted. 'Oro… what happened?' he thought painfully. Automatically, he checked for his sword. Finding it comfortably within reach, he felt free to analyze his situation.
He remembered deciding to leave Tokyo, to head to Kyoto… and as he was walking down the road, he'd been accosted by that scruffy-looking character in white. 'What was his name… Sagara Sanosuke?'
Right now, Shinta didn't feel capable of caring. His head ached, and though he wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, he first had to figure out where he was, and whether it was safe to stay there. Unobtrusively looking around, he figured he must be in some sort of hospital. That made a certain amount of sense, seeing as he apparently fainted in the middle of the road.
'But still, it must have been that Sagara guy that brought me here,' he thought nervously. 'He might well have brought me to a place where he felt I would be safe… a place with other people calling me "Kenshin"…'
Shinta readily admitted that he had apparently lost his memory. He had woken up about two days ago, by a streamside, not even knowing his name. "Shinta" was just something that sounded right… so that's how he thought of himself. It was completely possible that he was this Kenshin. He simply felt it was most prudent to doubt for the moment. A vague feeling, which he believed to be a shadow of a memory, told him that he was highly unpopular with a great many people… though he honestly couldn't recall why. If what Sagara had said was true, and he had been the Hitokiri Battousai, then that certainly explained that.
Well, regardless of what it explained, Shinta hadn't yet decided to trust what Sagara had told him. All the same… it was tempting. He'd wanted to go to Kyoto because he felt he might find some answers to his past there, but Sagara offered him a past right here, right now… very tempting indeed. However, one didn't survive as long as he had by trusting someone just because what they said made sense. Most lies sounded much more reasonable than the truth, in his experience. True, he couldn't remember his experiences, but the knowledge was still there.
Shrugging imperceptibly, he was just tensing to roll out of the futon, when a woman walked into the room. Dressed simply in blue, with brilliant eyes, and long black hair, she had a demeanor that declared that in this place, at this time, she was in charge. He assumed that she was the doctor or nurse here.
"Well, Ken-san, how are you feeling today?" she asked briskly, and Shinta got the feeling she was talking more to herself than him, as most people did when speaking to someone they believed unconscious. And there was that "Ken" thing again. He could think of only three possibilities: a) "Kenshin" had been an alias he had been using; b) Sagara had simply told her – a stranger – that that was his name; or, c) Sagara had been telling the truth. He didn't have enough information right now to decide which, so he decided to stay still and listen, and hopefully learn a bit more.
"Kaoru, Sanosuke, and Yahiko are all outside waiting to see you. You wouldn't believe the trouble I went through to keep that raccoon-girl from breaking her way in. Honestly, I don't know why you put up with her." The woman kneeled down, and placed a damp towel on his forehead. Her tone became serious, almost pleading. "Please, Ken-san, wake up. We're all worried about you. What happened? If what that rooster-head told us was true, you don't remember us anymore. Why? What's wrong? Please, wake up and let us help!"
Shinta almost sighed. Well, so much for Idea B. It seemed whether Kenshin really had been his name, or if it had just been what he was calling himself, these people did know him. For some reason, he didn't know whether to be pleased or not. Still, if he wanted to learn anything, he supposed he had best "wake up" and ask.
Groaning slightly, he moved a bit, as if he truly were just coming out of sleep. The woman gasped and called out, "Sanosuke, Kaoru, Yahiko, he's waking up!!"
Shinta opened his eyes completely, just in time to see a young woman dash into the room and make ready to fling herself onto him. His reaction was entirely reflex, done before he fully realized that he was going to do it. As quickly as he could move – and that was damned quick – he rolled out of the futon, and was almost immediately in a defensive crouch, hand on the hilt of his hastily grabbed sword, ready to draw, ready to kill.
*****
Kaoru was in a state of shock. Seeing Kenshin prepared to fight her made her want to cry, and she hated herself for the desire. But the defensive, wary look in Kenshin's eyes was almost more than she could bear. In desperation, she tried a tact that always worked in the past.
"Kenshin no baka," she screamed. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?! You disappear, no word, not even a damned note, and when you show back up, you act like you don't even know us!!! Believe me, buddy, you are going to pay!!!" With that, she launched herself at him, intending to give him a couple of black eyes, but he did something that he'd never done before. He calmly caught her arms, and pushed her back. Kaoru stared in disbelief, unsure of how to react.
Kenshin sighed in annoyance, and pinched the bridge of his nose, as if he had a headache. "Look. Miss. I've had a really long day, and this is only making it worse. If we could maybe talk like civilized people, we might get this done faster, then we can go our separate ways."
He wasn't the only one whose day was getting worse. Kenshin's speaking lacked its usual out-dated formality… and his eyes lacked their usual warmth. It all added up to one thing in Kaoru's mind. "Hitokiri Battousai," she whispered fearfully.
The assassin in question sighed again, this time with a trace of anger. "I will say this once, and no more. I am not the Hitokiri Battousai. What I am, I have yet to discover, but I will not tolerate being called that anymore. Am I understood?" Cold eyes made it clear that 'no' was an unacceptable answer.
Kaoru had never felt afraid of Kenshin before, not even during his fight with Saitou… though if she were being honest, that was probably because he had virtually ignored her till after the hitokiri was gone. But now, looking into those eyes, she was scared.
Abruptly, the cold, emotionless demeanor disappeared, and Kenshin looked almost normal… almost. He lacked the gentle cheerfulness that was his trademark, but still, it was close enough that the fear melted away, and Kaoru felt scorn at herself for believing for one moment that Kenshin would harm her.
"Now, then, I believe that introductions are in order. You apparently know me, but I'm afraid that your names escape me." Kenshin looked at them expectantly.
"Oh," Kaoru said intelligently. "Um, my name is Kamiya Kaoru. That's Myoujin Yahiko. Er… that's Takani Megumi. And I guess you've already… met… Sanosuke."
Kenshin nodded slightly, apparently committing… recommitting their names to memory. "Thank you. Now, if you'd be so kind as to tell me how I know you, and what I am to you?"
Kaoru stuttered a bit, but eventually explained the circumstances of everyone's meeting with Kenshin, the others occasionally adding a detail here and there. Kenshin himself sat through it stoically, sometimes nodding, and listening carefully. Kaoru ended the story with, "… and so you've been living with us for…" She paused, surprised. She had forgotten how long he'd been with them, in their lives… it seemed like forever.
There was a short, uncomfortable silence, then, and Yahiko was the first to break. "So, Kenshin… what happened to you?! Why don't you know us?!"
Kenshin sat in silence a moment, a thoughtful look on his face. "Well, two days ago, I woke up by the stream, and I didn't know anything about my past. Everything was a blank. I can read, write, use my sword, I know common knowledge and history, but anything about me… is gone. You call me 'Kenshin', but that name doesn't mean anything to me. I -- "
He broke off as a deafening commotion came from the front room. Megumi was on her feet, racing to see what it was, but was knocked off her feet as a large figure barged in, almost breaking the door off its hinges.
"Hiruma Gohei!!" Kaoru half-gasped, half-groaned. Not this guy again!! He was far from their most powerful enemy, but he made up for it in persistence.
"So… this is Hiruma Gohei?" Kenshin asked calmly, almost idly.
"Of course I am, Battousai!! I heard you were in here, weak, defenseless!! Without your precious Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu to protect you, I shall have my revenge!!! I shall go down in history as the man that defeated the Hitokiri Battousai!!! Bwahahahah!!!" It had been obvious to Kaoru for a long time that Gohei was nuts, but this just confirmed it for her, beyond any shadow of a doubt.
"Hmm. Is that so?" Kenshin asked, still in that strangely disturbing voice. It was almost… amused, but at the same time, exasperated. "Well, then. Come and get me."
"Oho, Battousai, do you think I am a fool?" Gohei sneered.
Kaoru heard Kenshin mutter under his breath, "It had crossed my mind…."
Gohei continued on, oblivious. "Thanks to you, my ability with a sword is forever destroyed. However, why use a sword, when a gun is so much more effective?!" With that, he pulled out a silver handgun, cocking it as he did so.
Kaoru gasped, concerned. Even Kenshin couldn't out-race a bullet, and in his confused state, she wondered if he would be at all effective in a fight. As it happened, she needn't have worried.
Sighing again, with a distinctly bored expression, Kenshin leaped. Before anyone had a chance to blink, the gun was clattering to the ground, and Gohei's wrist was bent back at an impossible angle. Kenshin himself was slightly behind him, replacing his sword back into its sheath. He seemed to mutter something, but Kaoru didn't catch it.
Gohei, meanwhile, had gone completely insane. Turning, he gave a great howl, and lunged at the one who had caused his pain. Kenshin just glanced at him disdainfully, though Kaoru almost thought she saw a gleam of regret in his eyes. As the big man came closer, Kenshin drew the sakabatou again, and struck Gohei with all his strength on the neck. The snap was easily heard in the eerily silent room. Hiruma Gohei dropped dead at Kenshin's feet.
This time, Kaoru did hear Kenshin's mutter. "I really need to get a new sword. That was far harder than it had to be."
*****
"Well, I guess you won't be calling me 'Battousai' anymore, ne?" Shinta told the corpse conversationally. Staying cool felt like the only way to deal with this. It wasn't to trivialize the guilt he felt – which was intense – but he couldn't let the emotion control his life. He would mourn later, in private, but he also acknowledged that sometimes killing was necessary. Never enjoyable, but few necessary things in life were.
He suddenly became aware of eyes boring into his back. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that his "friends" were staring at him in shock, as if he had magically grown some goat horns and a tail with a little spike at the end.
"What?" he asked, puzzled. Sure, he could understand them being horrified that he had killed someone, but if he had been living with them for so long, that didn't explain the degree of their reaction.
"K-kenshin!! You – you killed him!!" the boy – Yahiko – stuttered, abruptly lacking the smart-ass attitude that Shinta had observed over the last hour or so.
Shinta just blinked. "Well… yeah. I mean, I regret it." His voice roughened slightly as he murmured softly, "I really do…" Voice returning to normal, he continued, "However, if what Kamiya-san said was true, and this man has been showing up repeatedly, trying to kill her… or me… then it was only practical to kill him. After all, he would clearly continue, and he only had to get lucky once to succeed. It was, in the end, him, or one of us." As an afterthought, he added, "And as I will be leaving soon, it would most likely have been one of you."
Kaoru just continued to stare at him in horror. "How – how can you be so cold-blooded?! How could you?! You – you're not our Kenshin!! You're not my Kenshin!!"
Strangely hurt by her words but unwilling to show it, Shinta replied coldly, "That, Kamiya-san, I could have told you from the beginning. And if you consider me cold-blooded, I truly hate to think how you react to those in life whom are much more harsh than I ever could be." Nodding stiffly, he continued. "I would appreciate my belongings – I'll be leaving Tokyo within a few days. Also, if it's not too much trouble, would you mind directing me toward someone else I might speak to about my past?"
Kamiya-san looked suspiciously as if she had been slapped. Shinta felt absolutely helpless when tears started falling down her cheeks, but he kept his features under control, revealing nothing. A cold anger seemed to fill the girl. Glaring ice daggers, she snapped, "Why don't you talk to Saitou!!" She then whirled, stalking out of the clinic, dragging a dismayed Yahiko behind her.
Shinta glanced at Sagara, hoping to find an explanation there. "Saitou, also known as Fujita Gouro. Just ask around for him, if he's willing to talk, he'll find you." Sagara seemed to be extremely confused, and extremely angry. With a parting glare, he turned and followed his friends out.
Feeling curious, Shinta looked over at Takani-san to see her reaction. She had been watching everything silently for a while now, and he got the feeling that she was normally excluded slightly from the group. Her expression now was firmly neutral, but Shinta got the feeling that while she disapproved, she was willing to withhold open judgement.
"You can stay here until you are ready to leave, if you like. You look as if you haven't fully recovered yet, and it would probably be best if I could keep an eye on you."
"Thank you, Takani-san, I believe I'll take you up on that," Shinta replied gratefully. He just hoped Kamiya-san thought to include money with his belongings.
*****
Somewhere below his conscious mind, Shinta felt a tearing in his soul at the thought of losing his friends. But the feeling was faint, as if separated by an enormous gulf, and he didn't give it much thought. He had been given a clean slate – he was starting a new life. It was best to leave the baggage of the old behind.
But in the core of his heart, he was crying.
*****
THE END… or not…
Yes, I know, that is a bad ending, but I can't really think of anything else to do with it. If you want to offer any suggestions, I'll certainly consider writing a sequel… can't see why you'd want me to though. This was a pathetic excuse for an RK fic… depressing, too. Well, please, C&C is welcome… just please don't flame.