Hello! Time for another story, everybody!
Disclaimer: Nothing from Rurouni Kenshin belongs to me, but if it did, I'd make Kenshin more like Romeo.
"Night of the Wolf"
Chapter 1: The Beginning of A Nightmare
Kenshin was down by the river fishing for that night's dinner. So far, all he'd managed to catch was a catfish, which Kaoru despised beyond all reason. (Everyone should remember episode 66 of the series.)
"Oh dear, I hope Miss Kaoru can tolerate catfish for dinner." He sighed unhappily.
As he was starting to get up to go back to the dojo, he heard a deep, low growling behind him. He slowly turned around, hand gripping the handle of his blade, prepared to attack. What he found was a large, black wolf, growling menacingly at him, teeth bared and dribbling saliva. He loosened the grip he had on his sword, the beast was obviously starved, and he could just barely see that its ribs were sticking out. He bent down and plucked a small bit of fish from his catch and offered it to the hungry animal. He could have sworn he saw the wolf smile. Before he could even comprehend what was happening, the wolf leapt at Kenshin, sinking its long, sharp teeth into his left arm.
"Yeow! Hey, let go of me, I'm trying to be nice here! Let me go!"
Finally, as a last resort, Kenshin balled up his fist and punched the wolf in the muzzle, effectively knocking the wolf to the ground. As soon as the beast was off, he ran away from the area, not even caring about his abandoned fishing pole. After he had run away, he took a quick look at his arm. The bite wound was bleeding fiercely, so he decided to have it checked out at Dr. Gensai's clinic. With that thought in mind, he went off to the clinic, grasping his arm lightly. Of course, when Dr. Gensai did see him, he was quick to notice the blood seeping through Kenshin's fingers.
"My goodness, what happened Kenshin?"
"I was bitten by a wolf, that I was."
"Well then come in, we need to clean out that bite."
The wound wasn't serious, so Kenshin had nothing to worry about, or so said Dr. Gensai. Kenshin was happy with this news, but then he remembered that he was supposed to be making dinner right now.
"What's the problem, Kenshin?"
"Oh, it's nothing really, but I'm supposed to be making dinner about now, and I'm afraid of what Miss Kaoru will do to me when she finds out, that she will."
"That's right, I almost forgot to give you this." Said Dr. Gensai as he handed Kenshin a piece of paper.
Kenshin took the small piece of paper and unfolded it. It was a message from Kaoru:
Kenshin, we've decided to have dinner at the Akabeko tonight, it seems that Sanosuke has had a lucky break while gambling. (Surprising I know.) Hope to see you soon.
KaoruKenshin couldn't stop himself from smiling; only Kaoru would be kind enough to give him a message like this.
"Well then, it looks like I'm off to the Akabeko, thank you for treating my wound, Dr. Gensai."
At the Akabeko ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Are you sure we should be eating, shouldn't we wait for Kenshin?" Kaoru asked.
"Nonsense, Kenshin got the message, he'll be here, so don't worry." Sanosuke said, stuffing his face.
"Yeah, let's eat!" Exclaimed Yahiko exuberantly.
No sooner had they started eating that Kenshin entered the Akabeko, searching for his companions. When he saw them he smiled before going over and settling down at the table. Kaoru smiled as Kenshin took his usual seat next to her at the table.
"Glad you could make it Kenshin." Kaoru said as she passed him a bowl for his dinner.
"I'm sorry I'm late, but I had to make a trip to Dr. Gensai's, that I did." He replied as he started on his share of the meal.
"Dr. Gensai's? What happened to you Kenshin?" Kaoru asked concerned.
"Believe it or not, I was bitten by a wolf while I was fishing for what I needed for dinner, that I was." He said as he showed his bandaged arm to his friends.
"Kenshin, are you sure you're okay? I mean…it must have really hurt when that wolf bit you." Kaoru said sympathetically to the wounded *rurouni.
"Yeah Kenshin, that bite looks pretty nasty to me." Sanosuke said as he winced slightly at the sight of Kenshin's bandaged arm.
"You can say that again." Said Yahiko as he gently prodded Kenshin's injured arm.
"It's all right everyone, it's nothing to worry about, that it isn't. Let's just finish dinner and go home." Kenshin said reassuringly as he covered his arm once more.
Despite the fact that they had more questions about Kenshin's injury, they decided to leave it be. They continued their dinner in peace, talking about their day and all the usual stuff. When they finished eating, they paid their bill and headed off for home. After saying good-bye to Sanosuke, Kenshin, Kaoru, and Yahiko started toward the Kamiya dojo. As they were walking, Kaoru couldn't help but keep glancing at Kenshin's arm, concerned about his injury.
"Kenshin, are you sure your arm is going to be okay?" She asked as they arrived at the dojo's front gates.
"It is all right Miss Kaoru, I'll be okay, that I will." He said as he opened the gates to let everyone in.
"Kenshin…are you sure there isn't anything that I can do for you?" Kaoru asked as she went to her room.
"I assure you Miss Kaoru, I'll be fine, that I will." Kenshin said reassuringly as he went to his own room.
"Okay, good night Kenshin, see you in the morning." Kaoru said as she entered her room.
"Pleasant dreams, Miss Kaoru." Kenshin said as he went to his own room.
As Kenshin started to remove his gi, he took another glance at his wounded arm. He traced the bandages gingerly, still wondering about possible reasons why the wolf had attacked him down at the river.
'I'm sure I didn't do anything to provoke it, so why did it attack me? Maybe its need for food is what made it attack, or maybe it got over excited about the food and decided to eat first and ask questions later. Oh well, best not to dwell on it for now, I can worry about it tomorrow.'
Soon enough, Kenshin slipped into his *yukata, crawled into his *futon and went to sleep, hoping that the next day would be better. However, during the night, Kenshin tossed and turned in his sleep, emitting low-pitched growls and whines in his sleep, clenching and unclenching his hands, scratching at his futon in irritation. In the light of the moon that came through dimly through his *shoji, a mark in the shape of a paw print appeared on his left hand.
Dragonlover71491: All right, first chapter is done, and I hope you enjoyed it.
Kenshin: Please keep supporting our story, it will get even better, that it will.
Kaoru: It's true!
Vocab:
*Futon – a padded sleeping mat, placed directly on the floor, originally used in Japan.
*Rurouni – wanderer, vagabond.
*Shoji – sliding door made of wood and paper.
*Yukata – a long sleeved sleeping robe worn in Japan.