Author's Note: This is my first story, and an AU Cross-Over between Rurouni Kenshin and Rosario + Vampire, with elements of other stories. I will admit that for the starting Arc the OC, Ryuunosuke Ren will seem OP and like a bit of a Marty Stu, but as soon as the main story picks up, and the rela antagonists start showing up I promise that that will abruptly and violently change, so without further Ado, I hope you enjoy Chapter 1 of Blood of a Hero, Blood of a Monster!
Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin, Bleach, and Rosario Vampire do not belong to me. And sadly they never will, *Crai* I claim no ownership and gain no profit from this.
The Left-Hand Thrust
"Gatotsu!" the rugged voice pierced the air as the figure lunged, a single hand upon the bottom of its crimson Katana's hilt, the black-marked serpentine dragon that adorned the blade seeming to almost roar in elation as the weapon pierced the Ayakashi's side, a gout of blood erupting from the back of the Ogre as it swung both hands down to grab the forearm of the Onmyoji's sword hand, squeezing it "You damned Half-Breed Mongrel! Why won't you just DIE?" it snarled, grip tightening as the sound of bones cracking filled the air.
Gold-Slit eyes narrowing, the 'Half-Breed Mongrel's' wrist pivoted, causing the eyes of the Ogre to widen "H-How? That's not supposed to be Possi-" he managed to get out, before his grip was broken by the knuckles of the Onmyoji's free hand, silent as the Ogre stumbled back, clutching it's now shattered arm.
"H-How did a Half-Human rat like you injure me? I am a Pure-Blood! An Ayakashi! A Mongrel like you could never-!" he roared out, raising both arms to the sky, though the broken arm lolled to the side.
"'Aku Soku Zan' Swift Death to the Evil, this is the Juppongatana-Ryu's Philosophy, the Truth of the Way of the Ten Swords. Can you deny it?" He intoned this as he dropped into the stance of his Gatotsu once more, both knees bending and his ruby-red Katana held by the end of the hilt, the tips of the fingers of his right hand resting against the back of its head.
"Once more, Gatotsu!" he snarled out the last bit, lunging forwards, and striking out with his blade, the tip driving through the chest of the Ogre and tearing into its heart, drawing a final agonized cry as it fell back, his blade drawing from it, and flicking once to clean it of the Ogre's blood before returning the blade to its sheath "Aku Soku Zan, Rape, of mind and body both. Is the darkest sin of all, may you rest without interruption, Ayakashi." He murmured the short piece before turning on his heel, leaving the traumatized female to gather herself, eyes closing beneath the crimson sky of the Ayakashi's Plane, breathing in the Youki-Infused air deeply.
_-+-0000-+-_
Ryuunosuke Ren was what many would call a problem child. He was particularly infatuated in the American music genres of 'Metal' and 'Hard Rock', and prone to picking fights with those around him when in the Human or Ayakashi worlds. Despite this, it did not in any way detract from the fact that the teenage boy possessed a powerful moral compass, and embraced the philosophies of his family's swordsmanship styles openly and fiercely.
'Aku Soku Zan', Swift Death to the Evil was the first and most important of these Philosophies.
Followed by the much less rigid 'Defend the Weak', derived from the clash his ancestor Himura Kenshin had undergone with the warlord Makoto Shishio, arguably one of the greatest swordsmen to ever live, and a powerful Social Darwinist who believed that the weak existed only for the purpose of serving the strong.
The third and final of the Juppongatana-Ryu's three philosophies was simply 'Respect for true Swordsmen' a philosophy shared by all of the styles past practitioners', and those who had entrusted their swordsmanship styles to it.
In the following of all three of these, and the physical application of his style, Ren could be described as little more than a Genius Child Prodigy, and though he had yet to master the final steps of the style, and the more advanced techniques that once comprised the Hiten-Mitsurugi Ryu's final stages, this was expected for a youth of only 16 years old, considering all of the other techniques that the style had integrated.
The boy's hair fell to just below the height of his shoulders, dulled-red locks pulled into a tail reminiscent of that his ancestor Kenji bore, and Kenji's father before him during his youth. With bangs falling to the edge of his brow just above his eye-level, and to the line of his jaw on the sides, Ren's eyes took the shape of predatory slits of a glistening gold above the bandage wrappings which covered his face from the bridge of the nose, his skin a pale, ethereal white.
His body was enwrapped in bandages from the bridge of his nose down, covering the entirety of his form below reaching until the first knuckle of each hand, and covering to just above his ankles. Atop the bandages rested a crimson-red Yukata to match the sky above him, with ebon-black flames licking along the hem of the cloth, and encircling the ends of his sleeves around his wrist, a Serpentine Dragon of matching black bursting from the flames and encircling his torso twice, before ending with its maw perched upon his right shoulder, whirling around from the left. Held tight to his form with a sash of matching black, the robe-like garment sat above the plain black Hakama he wore, and the crimson skate-shoes he wore, having absolutely refused to garb his feet in the traditional woven sandals.
Raising a hand to brush a stray bang from his sight, the Ryuunosuke rose his gaze to the sky, having reached a cliff-face and perched himself at its edge "This is the last summer I have then, before I'm locked away in that institution…" he murmured, resting the back of his hand against his brow, jaw tensing beneath his bandages, and the hand drifting down, two fingers tucking into them over his cheek, before pulling out and swinging around to slam against the thin air "Sometimes…I wish you were here, Kenshin-San, instead of back in the Meji Era... Saito-San, Sano-San. Any of you, just to give me a purpose, tell me…who I'm supposed to be." He murmured to himself.
Drawn from his reverie by the oncoming sound of a struggle, the clenched and swung around, grasping the hilt of his blade as his eyes narrowed, ears twitching at the sound. The voices of a young girl, around his age he'd guess, and an older male…Ren didn't like this.
"N-No! I don't like this! This isn't what I wanted when I said I loved you!"
"You said you loved me! This is the ultimate act of love, so were you lying before?"
"No! I loved you so much then! I just…You're acting so different now and I'm not sure if I feel the same-"
"Love isn't something that just disappears like that! You lying little-!"
The voice was cut off as Ren's decision was made, blurring into movement, his crimson-clad figure appeared between the advancing Gym Teacher and the Yukki-Onna who shrunk back in fear, face paled further than even normally seen from her race.
"What the- You Brat! Who do you think you are, barging in like that?" The older man snarled, hands clenching into fists as the Half-Breed Onmyoji glanced over his shoulder, seemingly ignoring the aggressor as he questioned the girl.
"Are you alright, Yukki-Onna-San?" He asked, voice surprisingly empathic when compared to his earlier speech to the Ogre, earning a frightened nod from the girl
"Y-Yes…"
"Very well then. Aku Soku Zan, Swift Death to the Evil. Defend the Weak. These are the first two principles of the Juppongatana-Ryu; the first of its three Philosophies…Your life is forfeit." He stated, returning his gaze to the male before him, hand straying towards the hilt of his katana.
Reacting instantly upon hearing the boys words, the older man's left arm shot out, tanned flesh erupting into a sea-blue tentacle which rippled towards the Ryuunosuke, his Katana flashing out of its scabbard, the angle of the blade scraping against the edge of its scabbard, the weapon burst into a haze of flames, ripping length-wise through the blue tentacle in a spurt of blood which sprayed along the ground, and Ren.
"Ichi no Hiken: Homura Dama!"
Shaking his head once to clear his eyes of the blood spray, the Half-Breed dashed towards the hastily transforming Kraken, an angered cry tearing from his masked lips as a second, unseen tentacle blindsided him, tossing the Onmyoji's form tumbling across the ground, slamming into one of the gnarled, leafless trees that populated the coastline of the Ayakashi's world.
Hefting his blade, Ren thrust it before him, tip digging into the approaching tentacle and sending it careening to the side, over the cliff-face as a cry of pain escaped the man's lips.
"If I can't have you Shirayuki, then I'll drag you down to the depths of the ocean! You! Are! Mine!" the Kraken snarled, scooping up the stunned Yukki-Onna with a cry of shock from the girl as he began to descend the cliff-face, drawing a snarl from Ren.
"Not a chance! Hitotsume: NADEGIRI!" Came the feral growl of the Ryuunosuke as he leapt from the edge of the cliff, Katana slung into its sheath, and his right fist cocked back, the bandages that enwrapped the arm and the sleeve of his Yukata seeming to simply shred away along with the bandages that enwrapped his face, revealing an Ebon-Black tattoo enwrapping his arm, the Serpentine Dragon's tail starting at his shoulder, and spiraling down until it reached the back of his hand, the maw placed there and his strong, defined Jaw, the side of his face marred by an X-Shaped mark, darker than the rest of his ethereal pale flesh. The clenched fist flew forwards, slamming into the body of the Kraken, and a slew of gore erupting as a perfect circle, 6 feet in diameter simply blew out from its body, the mangled flesh falling into the sea.
Eyes flashing, he pivoted in his fall, pushing off from the falling corpse of the Kraken, and scooping the Yukki-Onna from the air, pulling her form to his and looking down to her "Are you alright?" he asked, receiving a nod.
Kicking off of the corpse once more, his feet impacted with the wall of the cliff, surging upwards along it, and clearing the edge with one final push, falling to his knees on the side of the cliff-face, panting from exertion as his now bared right arm shuddered once, before contorting at an unnatural angle, the legs of the Yukki-Onna that he had held falling to rest against the ground as he slumped forwards, holding him to her still whilst his vision blurred.
The last waking sensation he felt was the gentle caress of a hand against his marred cheek, and the sight of long, lilac locks.
_-+-0000-+-_
Blink…Blink…eyes opening. A chilled gust of wind and an off-blue ceiling that is only a shade off of being white.
Inhaling deeply, Ren's eyes shot open wide as he realized something unsettling. His face was bare.
Swinging a hand up, he traced his fingers along the raised flesh of the X-shaped birthmark along his cheek, silent as the creaking sound of an opening door pulled him from his reverie, swinging his hand down from it as if embarrassed.
Looking to the door, his lips pursed, looking to the form that entered.
Garbed in a loose white-and-grey striped top, with light lilac pair of sweatpants adorning her lithe figure, Shirayuki Mizore stepped into the room, arms crossed over her chest as she silently looked to the boy who lay in bed, rolling over the stick-mounted mint-candy she held there.
Breaking the awkward impasse, Ren spoke up, pushing himself to a seated position from his place laid out on the bed, wincing in pain as a shot of searing agony shot up his right arm.
"You should know not to do that…from your movements with the technique that killed the Kraken you've used that technique before." She spoke, voice soft and melodic, drawing an embarrassed blush from the boy.
"There's no point in lying about, it'll never grow to endure the maneuver if I don't force it to improve." Ren responded indignantly, lips curling downwards into a childish pout.
Raising one hand to cover her mouth as she let out a faint giggle, the young Yukki-Onna shook her head, a gentle smile toying at the sides of her lips "I am Shirayuki Mizore, daughter of this village's Snow Mother, Tsurara."
Pouting to her once more, Ren allowed his lips to curl upwards into a genuine smile "Ryuunosuke Ren-" He began, only to be cut off by the girl, who shook her head with a giggle.
"I know of your name, Descendant of the Hittokiri Battosai." She mewled, slouching forwards and pushing off from the wall as she walked forwards, raising a hand to cup his cheek once more.
Cheeks flaring a bright red around his birthmark, Ren's mouth fell open in a silent O, he instinctually pulled away, face turning to the side as his eyes strayed downwards.
Sighing to herself, Shirayuki slung her form over the edge of the bed to straddle his blanketed form, both hands moving to grasp his cheeks and turn his face to hers.
"Now, are you going to look at me and have a civil conversation, or do I need to freeze you forever?" She spoke, an innocent smile curling her lips upwards and letting out a small giggle.
Eyes locked now with hers, Ren pursed his lips for a moment, before speaking "I'd rather not be frozen forever, so…I figure I'll have a civilized conversation." He stated, only for the air to fly from his lungs as she lunged forwards, clinging to his form through the blanket.
"Good! Mother always said that future husbands are best left unfrozen!"
To this, Ren blinked once, before his eyes shot open wide in a combination of pain and fear. "Wh-What?"