Nightmares of Dragons
Prologue: Premonition
It had started as a normal dream; nothing too spectacular about it. He appeared to be standing on the edge of a pristine lake; the scene bathed in the softest of moonlight. Overhead, the forest canopy opened to reveal a star-studded sky. In short, it was an idyllic midnight scene. Then, suddenly, a scent came to the dreamer's nose.
"Sakura? Isn't it a little early in the year for it?" he wondered, as he turned and walked away from the lake's shore, and towards the scent's origin. And yet, as he moved ever closer to the smell, another one came with it; and it sent the alarm bells in his mind off.
"Blood! Someone has just died here!" the dreamer yelped, as he rushed to the scene. He skidded to a halt when he saw someone up ahead; apprehension settling heavily over him when he recognized the man before him.
"Baka deshi? What are you doing here?" he asked, a chill running down his spine when the other slowly turned to face him...and amber pierced that darkness between them. But that wasn't all the dreamer saw; for now he could see where the blood scent was coming from. From the other man's chest, all the way to his feet, he was soaked in another person's blood. There was even some on his face, just under his now-impassive golden eyes, as well as on the sword the man now carried.
"Kenshin, what have you done?" the dreamer asked, aghast and more than just a little sickened by what he could now see was a scene of wholesale slaughter. Men, women, and even children lay dead before the hitokiri; butchered like so many cattle.
"Soon...the 'Kamui' will awaken...and destiny will be fulfilled. The earth cries out for change...Therefore, there can be only one future..." the other man murmured, in a monotone, as he raised his sword, and prepared to attack. With a quick leap back, the dreamer reached for his own sword; unnerved to discover that it wasn't at his side.
"Where..." the dreamer wondered, as he dodged a blow from the man's blade; looking to the left when something caught his eye. There, sticking up from the ground with its' point buried in the bloodstained earth, was an ornate great-sword. The guard of the sword seemed to be finely engraved; a masterpiece that any ordinary swordsmith would be hard-put to duplicate...and one the dreamer desperately grabbed to defend himself from 'Kenshin's' attack. With more strength than he could have given him credit for, 'Kenshin' pressed the dreamer back; forcing him to maintain his defense, and not allowing him to use any offensive moves. It was when they locked blades for a brief moment that the dreamer was able to see what kind of sword 'Kenshin' now used...It was an exact replica of the one he was using now!
"But what does it mean? Why are there twin swords? And what is our connection to them, and the 'Kamui'?" the dreamer wondered; uttering a gasp when the point of the other sword pierced his shoulder just a little bit as he leaped back a safe distance from the dead-eyed killer in front of him.
"There can be only one future..."
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With a desperate gasp, the man who had been dreaming bolted upright in his futon. For a few, heart-pounding moments, he looked around; making absolutely certain that he was alone in his simple home. Then he forced himself to calm down, and his racing heart to resume its' usual rhythm.
"What the hell was that? Was it a dream? A nightmare? Or something else entirely?" the man wondered, as he pushed what remained of the blanket covering him, aside, and got up. He shuddered a little bit as he walked outside; it was still a little cold out, hinting that winter had not relinquished its' hold on the area completely yet (it also didn't help matters any that he was completely soaked in sweat). Above him, the stars glittered in the deep blue velvet of a predawn sky; reminding him a little too much of the dream he'd just awakened from.
"But what could it mean? Has he started killing again?" the man murmured, as a nameless dread settled itself firmly within him. And Hiko Seijuro the Thirteenth could not, for the life of him, figure out why.
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Meanwhile, miles away, another man was awakening from a similar nightmare. With a horrified gasp, Kenshin Himura bolted upright in his bed.
"Shishou...Why? What was the meaning of that? One future? The 'Kamui'? Twin swords? What does it all mean?" Kenshin wondered, as he walked out of his room, and into the cool morning air; desperately hoping that a walk would clear his head and help him think. Even though it was very early in the morning, he could hear the sounds of those who normally were up at that time; morning commuters, students to the schools that were situated close by, and even some early-morning joggers could be heard moving past the dojo. With a sad smile, Kenshin looked up at the old dojo. He had not expected to outlive Kaoru, since he'd been eleven years her senior by the time they'd met, that misty morning over one hundred years before.
"And yet, how much harder had it been for you, Shishou, when your wife died from old age? From what you had been willing to tell me, you'd had to leave what family you'd had left, behind, never to return." Kenshin wondered, before his mind returned to the gruesome vision he'd seen in his dream. Why had his master butchered those people? And why had they been using twin swords?
"Ohayo gozaimasu, Himura-san!" a girl's voice called, cheerfully, tearing Kenshin's attention away from his grim musings, for a moment.
"Kotori-dono! Fuma-kun! Ohayo gozaimasu! Heading off to school, sessha sees." Kenshin said, in response, as a pair of siblings paused beside him.
"Hai. We haven't seen too much of you lately, Himura-san. Have you been feeling all right?" the girl, Kotori, asked; with concern in her crystalline blue eyes for him.
"No need to worry. Just a little lonely, is all. How is your father? Is everything well at Togakushi Shrine?" Kenshin in turn asked, conversationally. The young man, Fuma, nodded.
"He seems to be doing all right, healthwise; but I think he still mourns for Mother." Fuma replied, softly; a hint of sadness emerging in his mahogany eyes at the thought. Kenshin nodded in understanding. He could remember very clearly the morning when the pair's mother had been found dead within the shrine; her body having been savagely torn to pieces the night before.
"Let sessha know if any of you need anything, okay?" Kenshin said, as Fuma smiled and nodded.
"Will do. See you later, then." Fuma stated, as he started pedaling off; with Kotori waving at the former rurouni as they went. Kenshin waved back until they had disappeared around a corner, and then his misgivings returned.
"After so many centuries of life, why have you started killing again, Shishou? It just doesn't make sense!" Kenshin thought, shuddering as he remembered the image of his master standing over the corpses of those people; and the soulless amber eyes that had stared at him so coldly...
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Hinoto sighed as she sensed the confusion coming from the two men, and their shared horror at the gruesome quality of their dreams.
"It is to be expected, I suppose...since they are both Dragons from a previous generation. I can only wonder what the future holds in store for them, since even I can't see it." she quietly mused, as she gazed softly at the inheritors of the Mitsurugi Ryu, and wished she could ease their fears; knowing that she couldn't reach them because of the amount of power they held.
"Soon 'Kamui' will return. I wonder what part these two will play in the battles to come?" Hinoto murmured, as the image of the fire-haired Fourteenth master, and the white-mantled Thirteenth master faded from before her; leaving only the darkness of her shrine as company.
Author's Note!
I know this is a very odd idea for a crossover, but this is one idea that has refused to leave me alone! Hope this doesn't confuse too many people, and I also hope that I can manage a few surprises in this fic! Thanks for reading!
Gemini14