♥ Chapter One ♥

A gentle warm breeze brushed past his face. As Soujiro strolled along a small road near the river, he smelled the mouth-watering aroma of soba from a nearby family restaurant. He sighed as he realized he doesn't have any money with him. With a small grin he remembered how he always had food while working for Shishio, but those days were over. Besides, a little starvation isn't that bad when a reward of finding the truth in life is waiting to be discovered.

A loud shattering noise followed by a scream woke him from his daydreams. The source of the sound came from the soba restaurant. Outside of the building was four huge men and one woman who was surrounded by them. The shop owner screamed again.

Soujiro instantly ran towards the shop. But something told him to stop as soon as he saw the woman. She had a look in her eyes that told people not to interfere. So Soujiro stayed behind a tree nearby. From here, he could clearly see that the group of men were drunk.

"Hey lady, who do you think you are to call us a bunch of drunk pigs?" one of the four men said as he leaned forward to glare at the woman.

"I say we teach her a lesson not to mess with us again!" the shortest one of the group smirked as he pulled out his sword.

The shop owner once again shrieked and cried "Takara-san! Don't fight them! You'll get killed for sure!"

"Please do not worry Hayashi sensei. These mounds of turd will be reduced to nothing once I'm finished dealing with them," said the woman named Takara. It would seem like a whole lot of arrogance for a woman, but something about her tone of voice told Soujiro she wasn't boasting. Her body shape didn't indicate any signs of a fighter, in fact she looked quite vulnerable, really skinny and slightly shorter than Soujiro. But her facial expression could be understood by anyone that she was not just a weak little girl with too much ego, her deep mysterious eyes had the soul and passion of a true warrior, a look of sorrow and pain scarred her beautiful ivory face, while deep inside the outer shell, there was still warmth. A small candlelight floating in an abyss of darkness.

"You little bitch! You think you can take on all of us? Not only are you annoying you're a an idiot too!" the one who pulled out his sword shouted with much frustration and anger. Now out of patience, he swung his sword directly upon Takara's head. Time seemed to pause as everyone stared with bewilderment at the place where Takara was standing. Soujiro was the first to spot where she was relocated. Up on the roof of the soba restaurant, there she stood, her long black hair following the currents of the wind. She had taken off the piece of cloth that was tied at the her waist of her robe. Inside she was wearing a red vest and gray baggy pants tied below her knees. With immense speed she jumped down on the sword wielder's shoulders, with a loud crack the man was sent flying face first into the dirt and was knocked unconscious. The other three looked shocked and furious, instantly, they all drew their swords. Takara's eyes glinted and she took the piece of cloth and wrapped it tightly around one of their necks. Her knuckles turned white as she pulled with all her strength on the strip of cloth and the man struggled to get oxygen. She finally loosened her grip when she was sure the man was knocked out. Now only two remained.

Somewhere in those thick head of theirs' they must've devised a plan of some sort, Soujiro thought to himself as he noticed the two nod to each other.

They charged full speed at the woman but they weren't quick enough. Takara was behind them and elbowed one of them in the head, the guy feel unconscious almost too easily. But that wasn't important, the other man was there throwing attacks at her that were way too easy to block. Things were getting suspicious.

BANG! The sound resulted in dead silence. Everyone stared wide-eyed at the man who supposedly fell unconscious. He was still lying down, but in his right hand, he held a gun still smoking from the shot. The crowd of people and Soujiro all looked to see the direction the gun was pointing. A few gasps and small screams came from the mob of people. Blood pouring from Takara's left arm, her knees gave in from the pain and blood loss. She grinded her teeth to prevent from screaming, her fingers bright crimson, clasping onto the wound.

"Not so tough now are we?" the man standing crouched down until their eyes were level. With a grin he stood back up and aimed his sword directly at her throat. Takara's breath became shallow, her heart beat sped up. The air became heavy with dread.

Is this the end? she asked herself. Takara prepared herself for the pain and waited. Nothing happened. Her tightly shut eyes opened a crack and saw a tall figure in front of her.

"Do you really think this is a polite way to treat a lady?" the boy in front of her said with a smile to the man about to kill her, who now had a stupid, confused look on his face.

"Move out of the way or you'll be killed too kid," the man scowled. Still smiling, the boy pulled out his sword too.

"Then you leave me no choice." His smile faded a little as he positioned his sword. With speed more fast than Takara, he stepped to the side and was behind the still confused man. He turned his sword around and thrust the handle into his spine. A look of surprise and pain struck his face as there was a crunching noise and his eyeballs rolled to the back of his head.

The man with the gun quickly fled the scene and disappeared in the depth of a nearby forest.

Takara forced her legs to move and she stood up.

"Who are you?" she demanded. Stumbling and collapsing again, she looked up at the smiling face of the stranger.

"I am Seta Soujiro, the rurouni," he replied with a sweet smile. Now annoyed, Takara stood up again.

"You didn't have to help me you know! I could've handled them myself…" she said, frustrated. Again he smiled, then apologized for interfering. With a small growl Takara walked unstably into the soba restaurant.

"Takara, your wounds-" the shop keeper lady started.

"I can treat it myself, sensei," she interrupted. Soujiro watched her disappear in the back of the building.

I was able to protect someone, he thought to himself. I saved someone's life. Now he understood the happiness of being able to let someone live, instead of killing them.

Thank you Kenshin… because of you I was able to save this girl…