Sakura Blossoms
Prologue
By: Icesyvey
Disclaimer- I do not own any of the SM characters seen in this story, the idea and any additional characters are my own.
During the end of the Tokugawa shogunate and before the beginning of the Meiji restoration, fires still burned in the city of Kyoto. Battles occurred every night in the name of the people of Japan. The stench of blood could be noticed as the sun began to set on the nation's capital. People fought and died, or killed for ideals they thought were right and just.
And yet the land was still beautiful, the green hills surrounding the city, the forest that pushed against the buildings like a tide. Sakura blossoms still bloomed and fell every spring.
To some they were no longer beautiful, but like the fall of blood spilling from a lifeless body. Many had lost their lives in those years , innocents and sinners alike. The Samurai fought to hold onto their way of life. The imperialists strived for ideals and dreams of a more equal nation.
What was right? Which was the correct path?
Kyoto 1860 - Spring
A clang echoed through the stillness of the night as cold steel scrapped along cold steel. Grunting and heavy breathing filled the small side street in Kyoto. A figure crouched low to the ground, blood trickling down their neck. Empty blue eyes met those of the streets' only other occupant. The moon rose high over their heads as the two figures ran at each other once more, kitana met wakizashi and the two figures pushed at each other violently. Suddenly one kicked out, connecting with their opponent's knee, causing them to stumble apart again.
"This is fun but I have other things that I must attend to tonight." One of them said, the voice light and airy. It was a voice that belonged to a female or perhaps a young male.
"Do you now?" The other figure asked in a deep rolling voice, obviously a male's voice.
The first figure nodded and crouched low into a fighting stance, the wakizashi held at the ready. In the darkness you could see the larger figure grin as he charged. Once again the clash of metal could be heard, along with the occasional grunts and heavy breathing from the combatants. The smaller figure grinned as she locked the sword hilts together pushing her opponent back.
A movement from above caused both fighters to jump back as something landed between them.
"Usagi, I was asked to find you." The dark figure spoke from under the black silk mask they wore.
The figure with the wakizashi stood and smiled, sheathing her weapon. With a nod to her opponent she turned and began to jump along the rooftops of Kyoto side by side with the stranger that had interrupted her fight. Sounds of pursuit could be heard briefly before they silenced and broke off. Usagi moved quietly alongside the other person as they traveled. Jumping off a roof into a partially lighted street, Usagi looked around briefly, her hand on the hilt of her Kodachi. Nodding she sighed and moved into the building in front of her. She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the stench of human bodies unwashed and packed as close as fish in a net. She removed her shoes and set them next to the others before she entered the main room.
She walked forward, aware of the stares from the men around her, and of the person in black moving behind her. She ducked behind a silk curtain and continued down a hall, kneeling next to the door she waited for the person on the other side to acknowledge her.
"Ah.. Usagi I see that you have returned yet again to my side." Said a man from the other side of the door.
"Yes master... I was having fun tonight. I ran into an imperialist." Usagi replied, her head still bent as she knelt.
"Pigs all of them..." The voice said, and a soft giggle could be heard followed by a moan from the other side of the door.
"Master if you have no need of me, I will return to my room and treat my wounds." Usagi said
"Yes go cleanse yourself I am sure you probably smell, not at all attractive in a woman." The voice commanded.
"Yes master." Usagi said as she lifted herself from the floor outside the room
She nodded to the person in black that had escorted her to the building then turned and made her way out again. As she entered the main room she could again feel eyes on her back. But it was something that she was used to.
She paused a moment looking up at the night sky. Clouds had rolled in while she had been inside, it would rain tonight. She sighed and began her walk home, blood still trickling down her face and the wound she had gotten on her side was curiously numb. Kyoto was a dangerous city, she had learned that at a young age when her parents had been killed. She shook her head as she walked, it did no good to dwell on the past. Japan was a nation torn apart by war, thinking about her own past would not change that fact.
"I wonder when it will end..." she said voicing her thoughts aloud as she ducked under a curtain to a Inn.
Inside the Inn, men were getting drunk on sake and whores were cuddled on their laps or at their sides, trying to interest them. She dodged a drunk as he stumbled past her leaning heavily on the railing, the man paused and looked as if he was going to say something.
"I am not in the mood for your lewd comments!" Usagi announced as she allowed her hand to connect with he man's face. A grunt then a loud crack could be heard as she continued up the stairs, and the man traveled swiftly down. Once in the hall above she walked to its end, her feet silent on the tatami mats.
Usagi entered the room she had been staying in and glanced at the image that greeted her in the mirror. Empty blue eyes stared back at her.
"You look like hell...:" she said to her reflection. She silently undressed, cleaned and bandaged the wounds that were still bleeding and then pulled on a pale pink yukata with a red belt.
She looked at herself in the mirror once more. Instead of seeing her own reflection she saw that of the shadow she had been fighting earlier that night. Eyes as dark as the night and twice as deadly. With a sigh she turned and looked at the futon. Instead of crawling into the soft bed she picked up her kodachi and moved to a corner, propping her back up she sat cross legged with the sword over her knees and proceeded to get some rest.
One thought echoed in her mind as sleep finally overcame her.
'Who was he...?'