Rurouni Soujiro; Chapter 1 The mysterious girl in the village of ninjas

After the seemingly endless war between Kenshin and Shishio, Soujiro took Kenshin's advice; he went out on his own. Soujiro wanted to find his own truths, reasons, and meaning to life. He said his good-byes to the remaining Jupon Gatana, and set out from the mountain in Kyoto on towards the north.

Walking down the mountain, Soujiro spotted a peaceful spring by a bridge crossing a large cliff. Peace and tranquility, that's all Soujiro wanted. The creek whistled a sweet hymn, which soothed Soujiro's mind and soul, sending him into a trance of happiness. "The strong live, and the weak die.." Soujiro scrunched up his eyebrows then quickly sat up with a plain stare. Shishio was still haunting him, the only thing he could do was to continue his journey and find enough of his own truths to push out Shishio's. Getting up from his temporary bed in the dewdrop grass, he plucked apples from the neighboring apple tree. Sitting back against the tree, knee raised arm resting on it, he ate quietly watching the glistening sun at the edge of the horizon and the orange tinted sky with skinny strips of clouds. Cherry blossom petals flew silently around Soujiro as if they were doing a dance. The wind rustled Soujiro's hair, and fishes leaped up out of the creek. A small smile of true feelings spread across the once killing samurai, Battoujutsu, the wanderer.

Soujiro continued his journey the next day, the clouds were like ink spots splattered across the sky, Soujiro new it was going to rain heavily because of the musty smell in the air. Drops of water began to sprinkle down on our wanderer. Keeping his head down, Soujiro continued to walk on. The mountain's trail became dangerously slippery, but soon on the other side of the hill Soujiro spotted a small village.

Suddenly, a huge rice cart about 50 pounds was rolling down the mountain trail. A young wistful girl raced down towards Soujiro. "Something's cooking, I smell rice!" quipped Soujiro "Was I really that hungry?" "Please, stop that cart!" yelled a girl dressed in traditional kimono, apparently she couldn't run very fast in a dress like that. Soujiro turned his head slightly to see the cart rushing towards him. Leaving the sword left behind in his sheath, Soujiro whips out his sheathed sword and stops the straw cart. "Oh thank you young man! I will be sure to grant you wishes, anything you please. This was our clan's first crop of rice for this month, and I was about to lose it all, I'm so foolish." says the ashamed girl. "No worries, I don't think you need to thank me much. I'm just wandering around." Soujiro smiles shyly.

He didn't want to tell anyone about his identity, not just yet. "You shouldn't be out here in this drenching rain." said the girl. "Well neither should you be gathering crops of rice in this drenching rain." Soujiro replied smiling in the rain. The young girl gasped in fright. "You are..are." the girl stuttered. "I am, what?" inquired Soujiro. All the young girl did was smile and started to push the cart uphill to her village. "By the way, my name is Sakura; Sakura Shinomori. Soujiro stood surprised in the never-ending rain. Shinomori, he was that fellow who is the leader of that Oni Waban group. Soujiro certainly saw the resemblance; her eyes could not reveal anything about her, same as Aoshi. But he didn't really know much about the Oni Waban. So he followed the girl up to the village entrance then stopped. "What if they know who I am?" thought Soujiro. Ignoring his intuition, Soujiro walked on into the village. The kanji encrypted lights hanged from the rusty hooks outside of stores and homes.

Walking down the straight little road into that leads to the other side of the mountain, Soujiro observes a large business building, one like where police meetings take place. "Hey mister! Do you want to play with me? We're having a party to celebrate a new leaders arrival today!!" a young little boy said tugging on Soujiro's fuku. "I see, and your leader must really be something right?" replies a smiling Soujiro. "Yeah! Our leader is Toruhiko Shinomori! Sakura must be so proud of her brother. Well, I have to go, my mom will get mad at me for not helping her." says the boy as he runs off. Sakura Shinomori; it's that girl he met at the mountain. "So she's an Oni Wabanshu, " thought Soujiro "She just might also be related to Mr. Aoshi." Soujiro stood thinking.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?! This festival is only for the Oni Waban clans of the East!" a tall man wielding a sword. Another samurai, Soujiro felt a feeling he hasn't felt in a long in a long time. "I see you're also a fellow samurai boy," says the man "But your no match for me!" he says charging at Soujiro. The rush in Soujiro grew faster and faster as the man edged ever so close. His eyes showed a sense of blood lust. Standing in his Battou-jutsu stance, he grabs the handle of his sword and unsheathes it in a blinding flash. Putting his sword back in his sheath, he waits anxiously for the dust and dirt to blow away to see this dead man's corpse. Surprisingly, the man was not even there. Soujiro stood in awe, looking around for him. "Don't do this Battou-jutsu." says a voice emitted from the depths of the dust and dirt. Slowly walking out, the same young girl who Soujiro met on the mountain emerged, helping the man. "This is my brother, Tamehiro. He is.mad, because he was not chosen to be our new leader." Soujiro stood listening to the girl, wide-eyed and observant. Sakura sighs, "You probably know the reason why he was not chosen, because his arrogance repels his intelligence." "I understand, that's how Shi-" Soujiro clamped his hand over his mouth. Sakura looks up at Soujiro and stares. "No need to worry, I have already figured out your past," Sakura smiles "You are the top samurai from the Juppon-Gatana. You were also Shishio's right hand man. " Soujiro's eyes widen, "And.you don't care??" "I do understand that my life is in great danger, but there's something I feel in you that is.." Suddenly a police runs out to where the two were standing. "Hurry miss Sakura! Something is amiss in the building! I.I.think it is Battousai!!" he yelled worried. Soujiro quickly turned around, "Battousai? It's not possible.." Soujiro whispered.