Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.

Ch. 1: Crimson

It rained.

It rained water and it rained blood.

Blood. It was everywhere. How could one person have so much blood? So much red, red blood. Vincent looked at his sword, it was drenched with the blood of so many, but he had never noticed how much every single one of them had. It was covering him from head to foot. Strings of it dripped from his hair, it was smeared on the palms of his hands. He felt sick. But he knew that he had to continue, continue killing until he learned it. Until he learned the ultimate sword technique. The ren-tso-tzu-richi. An attack that made even Kenshin Himoura's ultimate sword technique look pathetic. Then, and only then, could he extract his revenge on that murdering dog, the wandering samurai.

Looking once again at the carnage surrounding him he thought of what his father, Makoto Shishio, would have said.

"If this, this slaughter of the weak Meigi Era's government officials sickens you then you are not a son of mine. For any son of mine would be strong, would have feasted off the weak. And only someone weak would be sickened by letting nature take its course."

I will avenge you father. I will avenge you and my mother Komagata Yumi. I will kill that monster the battousai.

He clenched his fist watching as a mixture of blood and rainwater slid through his grasp like his understanding of the ren-tso-tzu-richi did. He stopped and remembered his days in that monastery, brought up by monks and Soujiro Seta. Stopped and remembered what his surrogate father and teacher, Soujiro, had taught him.

"If you must know about your father, know he was the one who taught me to fight, taught me to live. Know that he met his demise at the hands of the battousai. Know that neither was evil but both fought for the same reason. Their ideals. Their ideals conflicted and inevitably so did they. The unfortunate outcome of this conflict, unfortunate for us that is, is that your father died. Know that the battousai is not evil, but neither is he totally good. He walks the line of gray between the darkness of evil and the light of good. Like your father, and like me. For no person is truly evil or truly good, we are one or the other to every different person. Know that your father would have wanted you to be strong. Know that he would have been as proud as you as he would have been of himself if he had conquered Japan with a single sword stroke."

Vincent pulled the rim of his hat down covering his eyes and wiped his sword off on the cloth of his victims leg. He had been a petty police officer. Drunk with power and liquer he had tried to way lay Vincent in an attempt to force Vincent to give him more money.

Well. Vincent thought Neither the whores nor the bartender will be getting more money from you.

He sheathed his sword and walked on pulling his cloak back down and over his shoulder, hiding his body in the black material. He walked on merging with the shadows as he went.

A/N: Heh, so what do you think? Come on now don't be shy. that's it send me those reviews. feed me. feed me. FEED ME!!!!! YES YES that's it give me more! MORE REVIEWS! FEEDBACK I NEED FEEDBACK. ahem. anyway. So tell me what you think. Kenshin doesn't actually fight in this one but his son does. BYE for now