"Shishio!" Kenshin yelled as he stared down his enemy, prepared for the last move that could finish him off for good. "Your plans of destroying this country are about to be stopped here and now! With this sakabato, I swear to uphold my honor of protecting the innocent!!"
With a loud cackle, Shishio readied his mugenjin and smirked. "Still spouting the same ol' words from when you stopped slaying for the revolution...? It's sad to hear you like this, Battousai! Such a fighter should never change like that! If you're really serious about killing me, then throw away that no-killing crap and fight me for real!!"
Kenshin grasped his sword tightly as his eyes suddenly changed into the color of the battousai. "As you wish...Makoto Shishio. This duel shall end with the next attack!!" He suddenly disappeared and reappeared right in front of him, his sword drawn and flipped to where the sharp side would hit him. Shishio saw this and raised his blade to block the oncoming assault...and with a loud clang, they swords echoed loudly in the area.
SERIES PREMIERE
A Manslayer Story
Season 1, Episode 1-Dream or Reality:The Cogs of Fate Begin to Turn! (PG-LV)
With a scream, Tim sat up in his bed and felt sweat pour down his face. He placed his hand to his face and tried to calm his breathing, being really confused and surprised about the dreams he had the night before and just now. They only consisted of the world of Rurouni Kenshin, an anime he enjoyed so much. Yesterday, it was about the battle with Enishi and how Kenshin was fighting to get Kaoru back...and now, it was Kenshin fighting with Shishio. Whether it was his obsession with the anime or some kind of sign to his life...he wasn't sure. He sat on the edge of his bed and stared down at the floor, his eyes looking at the brown carpet. "This merely can't be some dream..." He whispered. "It didn't feel like I was just watching it...but...I was Kenshin..." He held his face again. "I could feel the pain, the pressure of battle..." He looked at his alarm clock and saw it was only 3:00 AM, 5 hours since he went to bed. "Damn...I don't think I'll be able to sleep again tonight."
He stood and made his way out into the hallway to make his way to the bathroom, then head for the kitchen to get a snack. Upon doing so, he heard loud snores coming from the living room. He saw the TV was still on and beer cans surrounding the couch his father was sleeping on. It was only him and his father staying in that place. His mother came by every week to drop off groceries and to spend a little time with him. Tim's only special person in the world was his mother since she was always there for him. His father, along with everyone else, didn't treat him like a human being.
Upon getting cereal, he dropped the box before opening it and saw his father move on the couch. He hoped he wouldn't wake him since his father was always drunk and well...Tim despised his father for what he did afterwards.
"Huh...?!" His father looked around in a daze, then noticed Tim in the kitchen. "What the hell are you doing up?!" He yelled. "You should be in bed...!"
Fear was now overcoming Tim as he stood there, watching his father stand and walk over to him. He couldn't move since running from him only made it worse.
His father stopped right in front of him, then quickly backhanded Tim across the face hard, sending him back against the counter.
Tim let out a scream as he slammed his back hard against it and fell to the ground. He remained sitting there till his father picked him up by the hair, then was punched hard in the face. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he just stood there, letting this horrible thing happen to him. Tim wasn't strong like a lot of people. If anything, he was probably the weakest person in town.
"God damn brat..." He said in a drunken state. "You're pitiful...!" He slammed Tim against the wall, then threw him to the ground. "Get out of my sight, you sorry excuse for a man...NOW!"
Tim got up as fast as he could and tried to walk to his room, pain all over his body. He barely made it up the stairs since his legs were giving out. Upon reaching the last step, he used the wall to support himself and finally arrived back in his room. He closed the door, but didn't bother locking it since his father could easily get in with a lockpick. Collapsing on his bed, Tim broke into sobs and let out scream after scream. "Why?!" He yelled. "Why must I live like this?!"
--
Elsewhere, in the world of Rurouni Kenshin, Misao hummed as she sat on the porch of the Kamiya Dojo, staring up at the evening sky with a smile on her face. "Don't worry, Lord Aoshi. I'll be home soon." Then she turned to see Kaoru walk up beside her. "Oh, Miss Kaoru. Good evening."
Kaoru bowed her head lightly. "Good evening, Miss Misao. How was your bath?"
She smiled. "It felt great. Himura did well with the fire, so it was nice and warm."
"That's good to hear. My policy is to make sure guests and friends are properly taken care of after all."
"Well, you do a good job of that, Miss Kaoru. Himura does the good cooking and you do the training."
Kaoru smirked. "So, you're saying my cooking is awful?"
She laughed. "No, no...it's fine. I'm just saying that's your major use since this is a swordsmanship dojo."
"Yeah, that's true...but no one else other than Yahiko is my student. Yutaro is in Germany again, so I'm only stuck with one. There was that one other one that stayed for a while. His name was Daiguro..." She sat down beside her. "It was shortly after we arrived home after that incident with Shougo and his followers."
"Perhaps you could add me to the list, Miss Kaoru." Misao smiled. "I'm sure I'd be a great addtition to the Kamiya Kasshin Style..." She grinned. "...since it gives me a better reason to kick Yahiko's butt at practice again."
Kaoru giggled lightly. "I wouldn't get good business if you started, Miss Misao. Being a ninja, you'd have an advantage over most of the students...well..." She scratched the back of her head. "Only Yahiko."
Misao stuck her tongue out playfully. "You're just jealous!" She humphed.
Kaoru smiled. "So, how are you and Aoshi doing lately? Is marriage in the picture yet?"
She blushed, then looked out over the dojo yard with a smile. "Well...not quite yet. We've been spending a lot of time together, and well..." She then became embarassed and let out a light squeal.
With a laugh, Kaoru pat her back. "I'm glad to hear things are going well."
Misao smiled, then slowly frowned slightly. "But...there is one thing that's bothering me, and maybe you should hear about it."
Kaoru then became concerned by the sound of her voice. "What is it...?"
Misao looked down slightly and sighed. "It's these dreams I've been having...of Himura, or...I think it's him..."
"Kenshin...? What about him?"
She looked at her as she continued. "I find myself there...standing on the sidelines of his battles. This person looks so much like Kenshin...but there's no cross-shaped scar on his left cheek and his hair is the same color, just not in a ponytail."
"I see..." Kaoru smiled. "But pay them no mind. I'm sure they're nothing."
Misao looked down slightly, then smiled in reassurance. "Yeah, you're right."
--
Back in the present, Tim had fallen asleep later that night and awoke on his bed in pain still. Looking at his alarm clock, he saw it was 7:00 AM. Feeling a little sick, he felt he needed some fresh air and knew his father was probably sleeping in a drunken state. He sat up and stood slowly, making his way to the window and climbed out onto the roof to make his way down to the front yard. Making his way down unnoticed and without making much noise, he walked off towards town to take a quiet walk. As he did, his mind wandered and thought about the dream he just had as he was sleeping back at home.
Instead of being in a battle, he was standing alone in the middle of what seemed like Tokyo during a rainstorm, quiet all around him. Rain dripped off his reddish-orange hair as he stood still, strange noises being heard in the distance. He looked around him, unknowingness shown in his eyes. After a few minutes, he heard footsteps stepping on rain puddles and quickly turned back forward to see the silhouette of what seemed like a girl. He slowly took a few steps forward. "Umm...who's there...?" He asked quietly.
"Himura...?" A familiar voice asked as the person came into view.
With a loud gasp, Tim stepped back slightly. "Mi...!"
That is when the dream ended.
Tim tried to remember who it was that had come into view, but couldn't. He decided to ignore the dream for now and to walk quietly.
Upon reaching the suburb area, he was coming close to a dark alleyway where unaware guys were hanging out. One of them saw Tim approaching and informed the others. With grins on their faces, they grabbed him once he came up by the opening of the alley and threw him down. Tim let out a yelp of surprise and quickly turned, fear on his face as he saw them standing there, bats in their hands. "No..." He whispered. "Please...don't...!"
"Poor little Tim." One walked up to him, a sadistic grin on his face. "It must be awful to realize that no one is going to help you. This is where your life ends."
Tim's body shook as he stared with fear, his hands clenched in fists.
"Get him boys!" Then, the bats started slamming into him, Tim letting out scream after scream. Blood stuck to the bats as wounds were made all over his body. This went on for a few minutes before they stopped and saw that Tim had enough. His body was twitching and blood was on the ground around him.
"Hmph...pitiful worm." Derek, the one who seemed to be the leader, said as he stared at him twitching. "Be grateful we didn't aim for your head. We didn't want to kill you...yet." He smirked and walked off, followed by the others in his gang.
Tim laid there on the ground, silent tears rolling down his face. The pain was to great...the pain of loneliness, the pain of being beaten by both bullies and his dad, the pain of hoping and nothing never happened...
"Kill me...kill me...kill me..." Tim whispered over and over as he drifted into unconciousness. The last thing he realized before blacking out...was the face of a girl in his mind; the one he admired so very much...
--
Misao walked into the kitchen when she could smell food and looked over Kaoru's shoulder as she was cooking dinner. "What's on the menu tonight?"
She looked at her. "I was thinking along with beef stew, I could make something special with the rice. I'm still thinking about it, though."
"Sounds...good." Misao said rather hesitantly.
"You going somewhere with this?" She glared at her, but in a funny way.
With a yip of surprise, Misao sweatdropped and held her hands up in front of her. "Not at all!" She said quickly.
"Good." Kaoru turned back around to continue cooking, then gasped when she realized something. "Oh darn...I don't have any carrots."
"I can go get some, Miss Kaoru." Misao said nicely.
Kaoru turned to her with a smile and nod her head. "Alright. You can go into my room and I should have a few yen sitting on my small cabinet."
"Got it." She ran out onto the porch and to her room, grabbing what Kaoru said would be there and dashed off to the market to get the carrots needed for dinner. It took only a few minutes for her to make her way to where she needed to go since she had her fast ninja speed. Upon getting them, she started to dash back to the dojo. Upon turning the last corner and running the final stretch to the dojo doors, she turned to her left to look in an alleyway. She heard a noise and suddenly got a kunai out, just in case it was someone wanting to hurt her. "Who's there...?" She asked quietly.
Someone came from around the corner very slowly, blood dripping onto the ground from his clothing. His head was down, showing he was really close to collapsing.
Upon seeing the man, Misao's eyes widened and she dropped her kunai to the ground, her body shaking. "Hi...Himura?!"
The man slowly raised his head, showing blood was present on his face. His eyes were hardly open and his breathing seemed heavy.
"Himura!!" Misao dropped the bag of carrots and her kunai as she ran up to him, her arms suddenly catching him when he was just falling over. "Himura...oh god..." Her eyes teared up at his condition. "Who did this to you...?"
The man had already blacked out in her arms, blood getting on Misao's uniform.
"Don't worry, Himura...I'll take care of you." She said with a saddened smile and slowly brought him back to the dojo with her, worry on her face that he might not make it...