Author's note: Hello there! I re-watched the entire anime show of Ruroni Kenshin on Netflix, and it brought back so many lovely memories for me. I fell in love with the character Soujiro Seta and his life story, and couldn't help but notice the strange chemistry that he and Kenshin shared during their battle in the animated series. It's a shame that I cannot find a lot of fan fictions or even fan art between the duo, since I think their struggles are similar and they seem to understand one another. I haven't watched the OVAs or the movies, or even read the manga, but I will try my hardest to respect the original formatting and the story lines of Kenshin Himura and Soujiro Seta to the best of my ability. I highly doubt anyone will read this story, as all the other fanfics for RK are well over a decade old now, but on the off chance that this story will get noticed by someone, I will definitely give this a spin and see how it goes. I will not post another chapter until I get at least one review. Thank you for understanding.
I do not own anything of the RK franchise. I just own this story, and nothing else. This fiction starts after the ending of the RK anime series.
Enjoy.
Prologue
It had been four years after Makoto Shishio's death and the start of my ten year voyageur. I was told about the cause of his death by hearing the rumors that a certain group of heroes saved all of Japan from its ultimate demise, and Shishio's name were peppered in these conversations. People were so relieved, and yet so angry that things never seem to be at rest in their home country. If they dare to become too complacent, they said, they always felt like another person would fall to their violent deaths, their blood staining their daily lives and consciousness, and they always prayed that this will soon all come to an end. Death is a given, they said. Murder is something completely optional. My wandering days felt humdrum when nothing out of the ordinary would happen, and then I felt a spike of tension during moments of me eavesdropping on strangers and their talks of all the violence and the catastrophes, knowing what I have already done with these hands.
Shishio taught me that if you're strong, you'll live, and if you're weak, you'll die. I carried those words around me like a security blanket, convinced that I was right in my resentment against the people who were supposed to care for me and love me. Love is a weakness. So was attachment. I used to never let anyone into what I was thinking or feeling, and always made sure that I kept a safe distance away from people should they even subtly imply that they just want the best for me. I can thwart their attempts at getting close to me with a false smile, a smile so polite and yet so cold, that they don't know how to react except to give me the space that I so desire. Despite my wanting to change the path that I was on in life, I still use that same smile out of sheer habit, suspicious of even small children when they would ask about my sword during my outings in town.
Something changed in me when I had to battle with that red haired man. I am freed by that of Shishio thanks to him, and it helped me to start my journey of wandering to find my own truth about who I am and what I am meant to do in this lifetime. When I met Kenshin, I was a budding seventeen year old who thought I had it all figured out; being defeated by the legendary man slayer, however, was when I began doubting almost everything. Kenshin saw through my mask and managed to shatter it in such a short period of time, that leaves me to this day, breathless. Not even Shishio understood me so deeply, and so quickly, like Himura did. I remember how queasy and unsure I felt during the battle between Kenshin and I, and how I would be so uncertain at first if I should even kill him. Those thoughts shook me during battle, and I would make up excuses, like the so called broken strap of my shoe, or that I would 'accidentally' miss him in my attacks. I remember when Kenshin finally asked me about my past and if what I thought may be wrong after all those years. I remember my breakdown. I remember wanting to kill him, just to shut him up, just so he wouldn't come close to me.
"You're frustrating. Mr Himura, the very fact that you're standing here.. frustrates the hell out of me! Whenever I fight you, I would start acting real strange!" I screamed to the now confused Kenshin Himura, "It doesn't matter if you are right, I don't care! This time, my next attack, would be sure.. to connect.. and finish you!"
I remember giving my all to that final attack. I remember that Kenshin beat me to it at that last second. I debated for years after if I had subconsciously given him that minuscule space on purpose so that I wouldn't have ended up killing him. It is something that I still do not understand as to why I did that. Perhaps he really was just stronger and faster than me. I remember crying after the battle to Yumi, and I remember leaving that wretched environment, knowing I have broken a bond with everybody else when I made that choice. Kenshin freed me. He offered me a new world of forgiveness and life, a new beginning of finding trust within myself and in other people, because he too, knew what it was like to run and hide from the past. He taught me that I could start over despite what happened in the past.
Kenshin. Where could you be now? What are you doing these days? I'd imagine he is living a better life now. He used to be Battosai, the man slayer, but the possibilities are endless now that the worst of the Meiji era is over. Maybe he has settled down somewhere. I know I am at an age where I should find someone to marry myself, being twenty one and all. Funny, if you would have asked me many years ago what I would have thought about marrying someone, I would have laughed at your question and shoo you away. But things have changed and I am looking. There are so many beautiful women here in Hiroshima, and I have had a number of good dates with some of them. There was even one that I toyed with the possibility of securing a future with her. But alas, her family did not approve of my wandering status, and sent me away.
I do the odd jobs here and there to support my traveling. It is so hard to keep my eye on every cent that comes and goes. Even worse, around some areas here in Hiroshima, I would have to face pickpocketers who would try their best to stay inconspicuous whenever they would try to take my wallet. I am just too quick for them to achieve, and they know it. Still, it exhausts me to have to keep this up, and I already promised myself that I will do this for another six years. I wonder if this is as good as it's going to get.
I thought I found the truth about life when I met Shishio. He told me that only the fittest would survive in this world, and my feeble young mind gobbled it up. It became the mantra that upholds me in times where I felt the most vulnerable. It made so much sense at that time because of my past and how people just are. There are so many immoral people out there these days, that it would be almost foolish to ignore Shishio's teachings. When I learned that Himura didn't killed Senkaku, sparing him his life so that he can do good, something within me snapped; I killed Senkaku, determined to keep my moral values that only the strongest can outlive the weak. But that man, Kenshin, he also spared me my life so that I can do good too. He told me that it isn't about being the fittest, but to seek the absolute truth about oneself and what one must do that makes sense about their own lives. Do what makes you feel good, and to do good. I told him that he was more demanding than Shishio in that regard. Shishio gave me his life lesson cut and dry, but Kenshin is more mysterious and it angers me that he made me fill in the blanks in the pages of my life destiny.
Who am I, exactly? What am I supposed to do?
I knew I had to find out, because it has been four years, and the answer seems to slip farther away from me. I have to talk to him. I have to seek Kenshin. I need to know now. I go on to travel by foot from Hiroshima back to Tokyo, where I knew he would reside. Where else could he have gone? I know he has a group of loving friends that also live there with him, so I will try my luck and see if I can find him there. The trip took a total of nearly two weeks, but I arrived in Tokyo and rented a room in a small hotel in that rural small town. I will only stay here for maybe a week to see if I can seek the answer of my ultimate truth. I know that Kenshin will help me again just as he did last time. He freed me once, he can do it again.
It is a lazy summer night when I slip out of my hotel room and go on to walk around to see if I can find Himura. I won't rest until I find him. I talk to whoever would be kind enough to listen to me, and after inquiring a few strangers, I manage to find the dojo of Kaoru Kamiya. There is light to be seen in there, and I knew that this is the right place. I walk up to the pathway that leads to the entering slide door and, upon seeing that door peeling open, a woman wearing a navy kimono steps out to see who is coming into her dojo at this time of night. Her hair is a soft, jet black, and her face is kind yet worried as to who I was. I stare at her, and she glance back. In a short moment of realization, her eyes widen and she gasps.
"Are you.. are you from the Juppongatana?"