Rumors-Prologue
By Xue Hua Bennet
Humanity has always desired power. To reach such a level of power, a person can anger many important people. Hence, the need for the elite group of assassins known as the Hitokari, a group of manslayers as their name states, arose. The hitokari were for hire assassins who were willing to take any dirty job into their hand. Though there was no outside source monitoring them, they have yet to abuse their power. The hitokari chooses their customers, approaching you when they feel you are in need. No one ever remembers the face of any member, but they would find their biggest problem dealt with. The only regret of the customers is the large amount of money they find missing from their bank account. Even the manslayers of the Hitokari could not explain as to why they leave no evidence.
Just because people do not remember anything, doesn't mean they haven't found ways to speculate upon the existence and members of the Hitokari. These rumors have been spawned into a myth of sort. The Hitokari first came into existence over a century ago. When the government was corrupt and a revolution was forming. History strongly proves that they were actually formed by the revolutionary government to deal with the tyrant government they were opposing. However, it has long since been prove that the government has nothing to do with the current Hitokari organization. Of all the manslayers in Hitokari, the one that is rumored to be most powerful is a red-headed demon. He was rumored to have blood red hair and the most deadly of eyes. Once someone sees them, they were instantly paralyzed by the eyes and soon die after that. They say he uses a sword and no one can touch him. The rumor of this red-headed demon has caused almost a craze in the society. The police are obsessed with catching him; the corrupt fear him and he brings hope to everyone else.
At this time, the red-headed demon was merely watching the television. There was a news report concerning donation by an affluent businessman to a local hospital. The business man had dark hair, which was cut short. He seemed to have blue eyes, but it was hard to tell as he seems to avoid looking at the camera. Standing next to him was a fat and stout man. He was introduced as the director of the hospital. The man was smiling broadly as he thanked the business man for his contribution. The red-headed man analyzed the director further. He seemed to have been nicely fattened by his job. He turned off the television and picked up the folder that sat on the coffee table in front of him. In it was a report concerning the hospital and the employees. He flipped through the information one more time, memorizing the data that passed in front of his eyes. The director had been divorced two times now and had no children from either marriage. He had made the hospital into a very elite clinic, but that was due to wrongful means. The hospital was supposedly a public clinic, but it has now turned into a private hospital in every way but name. Only those with money and insurance would even be treated by the hospital. Additionally, the branch of the hospital with the greatest profit was the plastic surgery division. Despite the hospital being situated in one of the poorest area in the city, there has been little to no one living in poverty, or even middle class, helped by the hospital.
This current event was the last opportunity for the director. The money from check that the business man had issued him is to be used for covering any bill that cannot be covered by the underprivileged. All through the years, the director has been using the excuse that the hospital could not handle covering EVERY underprivileged patient. The red-head hoped that the director would realize the warning that he was receiving, but he doubted that he would. No one had ever noticed the warning that the Hitokari issue until it is too late. He picked up his cell phone and called for his partner to come back. On the television, the business man was seen excusing himself as he walked off the small podium. They would return to this issue in a month's time. If there was no change, they had no choice. No way was he going to go above and beyond the necessary to save such a fat man. His thought process was interrupted when the phone rang again. Glaring at the offending phone for interrupting his thought process, the red-headed demon growled at the person on the other end. "What?"
"KEN-CHAN!" the person on the other side screeched.
The Ken-chan winced at the high pitched voice. However the growl melted off his face. He was fighting to keep a smile off his face, "hello to you too beauty. Is there any way I can help you?" At this time, he was already relaxing against the couch.
The girl seemed to have sighed before replying, "You could help me very much by coming over. We have dinner all ready and Aoshi says we cannot start dinner until you are here. Though, I told him I am so hungry I feel like I'm going to faint." There was a slight pause as if the girl was gathering power, before she launched off again, "he has the audacity to just pat me on the head and say: 'it's fine. I am sure that Kenshin will be here in time to catch you.' Therefore I am demanding you come here RIGHT NOW or I shall surely starve to death."
Kenshin was now unable to contain his smile as he imagined the red faced appearance of the girl. This conversation was as amusing as the idea that this girl could truly starve to death from not eating dinner right this moment. "Alright, I'll be over in no time. Just try not to faint alright?" Immediately, he hung up the phone, but not before hearing a slight growl from the other side. Swinging his jacket behind him in a suave manner, Kenshin grabbed his keys just as he walked out his door. Walking down to the garage, he slid into his Porsche. There was no reason he shouldn't be extravagant with at least something he owned. Pulling onto the road, he glanced at the car clock, which read 7:55, before letting out a curse. He truly was late; no wonder Kaoru had called and demanded his presence. Kenshin pulled out of his garage and sped off, that same smile on his face.