As the night was still young, the stars had barely risen to the sky and the moon had barely started its usual trip to the blue-black of the universe, there were footsteps, fast footsteps at the small alleys of Kyoto. There was a slightly noticeable mist that was covering the streets under those feet (that were running) like a small flow of water. It was cold, chilling cold that night of December. Even the small puddles of water to the streets were frozen. Soon the snow would start to fall in a couple of days or weeks as winter was finally in. There were people running, holding their swords to their belts. They seemed scared, though, even if they were armed.
"Don't let them escape!" they were hearing voices behind them
The two men were running to the streets of Kyoto like a pair of foxes that were hunted down by haunts. Their breaths were rasping while they were running. One of them was holding his right arm that was bleeding badly. Obviously he needed help quickly. Sweat was glistering on their foreheads.
"Find them!"
Their hunters were still yelling orders. The clattering sound of their joori on the streets kept going. Behind the two men was a small troop of men that were wearing blue haori. The haori of Shinsengumi.
"Find them!"
However among the tall men of Shinsengumi squad, there was a small-sized person running with them. Even if this small fellow was dressed in male clothes, in reality she was a girl. She had hair up in a small ponytail and she had a kodachi to her belt.
"Yukimura-kun!" one of the men told her on the run
"Yes!" she replied still running
"Remember to report everything to Hijikata-san!"
"Yes!" she said
Her name…Yukimura Chizuru… And she was the messenger of Shinsengumi
"We're done for, Kidou-san!" the injured one said feeling panic rushing through him
The two men were still running but it was obvious that they were losing ground. Now the wounded man had his good arm wrapped around the other man's neck to hold himself to his feet and the other one was supporting him. When they were ready to give up on hopes to live, a new figure came out of the shadows to the nearby alley. He was dressed in dark-colored clothes and he was wearing a black haori over them for the biter cold. He also had two swords hanging from his belt
"Quickly. Run" he only said, "Leave the rest to me"
The men's face lit with relief
"Thank you so much, Himura-san! We leave them to you!"
The man remained there as the pair ran away slowly. The man had long, red hair caught up in a high ponytail. He had a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek. His eyes were fiery and cold. However they did some secret sorrow inside them. The troop of the Shinsengumi stopped some meters away from him.
"Who in all hells are you?!" one of them demanded
The man looked at them
"Retreat and you save your lives…if not…" his hand went to his sword
His thumb released it from its sheath, ready to draw it. The threat or better…the warning was clear.
"Damn!" the man spoken earlier drew his sword, "Who are you! Present yourself!"
The red-haired man looked at him with calm, soulless eyes and calmly drew his sword. He started calmly walking towards them.
"I have no personal grudge against you" he said calmly, "But if you do not retreat, I'll have to kill you…"
Chizuru gasped scared. She never saw such a cold man before. And at the same time so sad and desperate (even if he was hiding it well). How many things was he hiding? How many lives had he taken…? The man narrowed his eyes to see the red-haired assassin better
"Hold on…" he whispered, "Red hair…cross-shaped scar on his left cheek…" Suddenly his eyes widened in horror, "That can't be! You're…you're…Hitokiri Battousai!"
Chizuru gasped bringing her hand to her mouth to stop it. Hitokiri Battousai… That name was not unknown to her. Of course she had heard of the legendary manslayer of Chozu! The man that was said he had killed so many people that they could probably swim in the blood he had shed! Chizuru knew by the look of his eyes that those low-ranks Shinsengumi would have no chance against such a killer! It didn't matter if all Shinsengumi in that alley were around twenty men! That assassin would kill them all in a blink of an eye!
"Damn!" the man cursed and pushed her out of the way, behind him, "Yukimura-kun! Stay back!"
"Ah! Nobu-san!" Chizuru mumbled
"Chizuru…?" Battousai mumbled for a little
The man though screamed something and ran to the assassin. The only thing Battousai did was to swing his sword once yet powerfully. Blood emerged out of the man's opened chest like a fountain. He then fell to the frozen ground, dead. Seeing this the Shinsengumi attacked. The assassin blocked the sword of a person to his right, he then turned around to stab a person to his left.
Chizuru gasped. He was incredibly fast! She had never seen a man moving so fast! The clanging of the swords joining together was actually making Chizuru desperate. She wanted to help but she was frozen…frozen as the dead bodies keep falling to the ground
"Damn!" one of the still alive Shinsengumi said, "How strong is this guy anyway?!"
Battousai swung his sword once to lift the blood off the blade. Then his eye fell on that small person that was with Shinsengumi. Who was that person? Why was following the Shinsengumi? The man saw the assassin looking there and he covered Chizuru.
"Yukimura-kun! Go to the headquarters! Deliver the message!"
"But…"
"Go!"
Then, Battousai understood
"A messenger…" he thought
Suddenly his eyes widened. The small fellow was small enough to move around freely, to run fast from place to place…to…pass information to the others! Images of flaming Kyoto flashed through his mind…and a small shop where a meeting turned out into a masquerade for his own people… And also…a small image of a countryside house…a beautiful pair of female eyes…blood…and snow…
"You!" he spat to the kid, "You delivered the message! You were the one who turned the meeting of Ikedaya into masquerade!"
Chizuru froze. The man was looking at her. Ikedaya…yes. She had delivered the message. She was the one who had leaded Shinsengumi to that place in order to save her friends. She knew that people got killed that day. However…she only did what she thought it was right.
Battousai looked at her
"A child…" he whispered
And the next thing he knew was that he rushed upon her. Chizuru screamed once. Battousai's sword though clanged with the sword of the Shinsengumi soldier.
"Don't you touch him, you murderer!" he said
"You're in the way!" Battousai bellowed, "Move!"
"I am Muto Sujita, of Shinsengumi 3rd squad…"
"I don't care!" the assassin barked again interrupting him and with a fast swing of his sword he cut the man's chest open
Chizuru shook in fear and allowed her tears to flow before running away. The assassin ran after her fast and methodically. She had no hope and she knew it! The assassin was again in front of her!
"Draw your sword!" the assassin said coldly, "Fight for your life or prepare to die!"
How was she supposed to fight him when the entire squad wasn't able to? Battousai's eyes were two ambers glowing with fire of anger and sadness.
"I said draw it, dammit!" he bellowed as he swung the sword missing her on purpose
He cut the string that was holding her ponytail. Chizuru's brown hair flowed on her small shoulders. The assassin looked at her shocked
"A girl…?!" he thought
For a second he seemed completely unwilling to finish his job. He didn't want to kill a child that wouldn't protect itself, yet alone a girl. However his uncertainty gave its place to anger.
"It was all your fault!" he bellowed swinging his sword again
Chizuru screamed and fell on her butt to the cold ground. Suddenly the assassin's moves weren't so methodical. He seemed really sad and desperate…and furious now…
"It's your fault!" he repeated, "Your fault that our comrades were killed! That Katsura-san disappeared! It was your fault everything happened! Damn you! If it weren't you…nothing would have happened! She would be happy somewhere! She would be still here alive!"
Chizuru couldn't of course understand…but Battousai knew…oh he knew very well…
It was almost a year before…when this man…Hitokiri Battousai…Himura Battousai…Himura Kenshin…had lived like a normal person (and then lost that life). The beginning was tragedy of Ikedaya. Katsura Kogoro, one of the top commanders of Chozu, had acknowledged the size of the tragedy, and in order to protect his precious assassin he sent him to the countryside to live as a farmer and druggist…and as cover…he sent HER with him…that woman with the snow-white epidermis and those sad, almost liquid, eyes…Yukishiro Tomoe… Oh, how much he had loved her! She had tried to betray him, but it was his entire fault… He had killed her fiancée and he didn't even know it…
However he loved her…so much…and now she was dead…and by his own sword…
"If this child hadn't warned them…Ikedaya meeting wouldn't have failed! Katsura-san wouldn't have sent me there! Tomoe wouldn't be dead! She would still be with me! Here! With me! I would protect her!…It's all…HER fault!"
The sword went down again and this time it gave Chizuru as small cut to her arm. Chizuru crawled on her butt to the ground till her back touched the wall.
She was trapped.
The assassin approached her looking down at her with his merciless eyes.
"It's all your fault…" he repeated once more but this time in a low whisper
He kept walking to her. He stepped over a frozen puddle, making the ice crumble under his joori. He started raising his sword. The moonlight ran on its blade as he did so…
"If it weren't for you…nothing would have happened!"
He raised his sword and then bellowed
"IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU SHE WOULD STILL BE HERE, ALIVE WITH ME!"
Chizuru screamed and closed her eyes shut ready to face her death. However the assassin wasn't moving. His hand was still in the air, holding the sword. He wasn't finishing his job though. He could see only the child in front of him… An innocent, unprotected, desperate child… The assassin wasn't moving…
"I can't!" he thought
His mind had started to think more clearly now that the intoxication of anger and blood was leaving his clouded mind. This little girl had done what thought it was right… She was fighting for her ideals perhaps…she was helping someone… It was totally unfair to accuse her for something she didn't do… She had warned Shinsengumi, yes, but what did she have to do with the masquerade and HIS misery? Nothing. She had done nothing… Chizuru raised her head and her eyes got lost in his. She looked like a trapped mouse that was begging the cat to spare her… Battousai found himself feeling a huge wave of remorse…for those teary, begging dark eyes…
Suddenly a sword made the Hitokiri jump back. A boy with long, brown air appeared
"Okita-san!" Chizuru called
"Leave her alone, you bastard!" Okita growled to the man
The assassin was about to turn to his old self again and kill him fast and soundlessly when…a long whistle drew his attention.
Signal to draw back
The assassin looked again towards the little girl that still looked at him with scared and sad, teary eyes and then…he ran…getting lost in the darkness of Kyoto…
"Chizuru! Are you alright?" Okita knelt next to her in concern
She nodded.
"Yes…thank you. It is just a scratch…"
"Thank goodness…" Okita sighed in relief and then growled, "That bastard Chozu dog! Next time I'll kill him!"
Chizuru shook her head
"I don't know, Okita-san…he…he seemed…confused…" she whispered gazing up to the sky that was full of stars… "He seemed…as if it was double person… As if he had two hearts fighting inside him…"
Meanwhile Battousai walked along with the rest team and found Katsura Kogoro waiting for them
"Himura" he called
"Yes"
"Are you alright?"
"I am. Thank you for your concern…" the typical words left his mouth stern
Katsura's face got sweeter with a smile
"Thank goodness" he said, "I heard that you encountered someone…"
"Shinsengumi messenger. It was the one who told the others about the meeting in Ikedaya"
Katsura's eyes narrowed a little
"I see" he said, "Then our traitor had probably informed them and then their messenger ran at them and warned them for our meeting"
"Most likely, Katsura-san"
"What happened to the messenger?"
Himura Battousai fell silent. He looked down
"Their messenger is a young child" he said hiding the fact that Chizuru was a girl
That girl had a reason be dressed in male's clothes. It was none of his business
"…I just couldn't kill that person… Please accept my apologies, Katsura-san…"
One of the Chozu members smirked
"Oh! So Battousai HAS a heart after all!"
A glare of Himura's made him back down defeated. Katsura though sighed
"I think it is better this way. If we kill children without any remorse then that wouldn't make us better than those we accuse…"
He placed his hand on Kenshin's shoulder and said:
"You did great work tonight, Himura" he said and started walking away
The assassin simply bent his head in a bow while the man was leaving even if Katsura had his back at him and couldn't see him…
However Himura Kenshin had to spent two hours washing his hands in order to feel a bit cleaner from that day's blood and he had to spent half of the night gazing the stars from his window with a small bottle of sake and a small cup in his hand in order to feel slightly better…
As for Chizuru…even years after she would wake up from her nightmare in which she was seeing those amber eyes glowing like lit coals in the dark, cold night…
Here it is! Just a small and really fast one-shot about a meeting between Kenshin and Chizuru!
That meeting in Ikedaya was the meeting that turned out as a destrucktion for Chozu. It was when Katsura said to Kenshin to go to Otsu along with Tomoe! That's why now Kenshin's mind made him believe that if Chizuru hadn't called Shinsengumi then the masquarade wouldn't have happened, Katsura wouldn't have sent him to Otsu and Tome would still be alive!
Poor Chizuru and poor Kenshin!
I hope you like it! It was really fast so no flames! Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan and Rurouni Kenshin Crssover fanfic!
Inspired by Hakuouki episode 4 or 5 for Ikedaya thing and episode 28 from Rurouni Kenshin and Tsuioku hen for Kenshin's attitude!
Enjoy!