Rurouni Rei 1

I do not own Mega Man Zero or Rurouni Kenshin. All rights go to their respective owners. I am making nothing off this. Thank you.

Panting. Her body could hardly take it anymore; she needed a break. Her lungs and muscles burned. She was not used to running like this. However, if she stopped, she died. She wanted to stop, but that meant death and she could not allow that.

Her men had tried to protect her. Unfortunately, she feared that they would be unsuccessful. It was not their fault they were ambushed, but she could not change what happened. Her men, her bodyguards... So many of them had died. The group of twelve men was cut down to five.

Now they were on the run. Outmanned and outgunned... She was practically out of hope.

"We'll hold them off," two of the men said. "Go!"

She stopped to turn, but Milan, her best friend and the assumed leader of her bodyguards, grabbed her. "There's no time, Ciel! We can't stop!" His dark green kimono brushed her pink one as he yanked away from the two men who would give their lives for her.

She saw the men who chased. Twenty-odd evil men who wanted only to kill her. She turned to run with Milan, but caught the sound of metal cutting through flesh and bone. She heard the screams of the two literally cut short.

Then, they were back to running. Three bodyguards, one scientist, a group of four... No hope.

Milan led them into the woods, in an attempt to lose their pursuers and it at first seemed unsuccessful. However, after a while, the sounds of those men died down. Still they continued running.

They needed a place to hide. Somewhere they could stay until it was safe to leave. The woods were good for escaping, but if they were found... Ciel dreaded to think about what would happen

"Hey! Look here," Milan quietly exclaimed. In front of them stood an old, abandoned dojo. It seemed fate would give them one last chance. The doors were shut and locked tight, but they were so rotted that two of the men easily pushed against them and broke them down. "In here."

Ciel walked in, but felt uneasy. The mustiness of the place was almost overwhelming and did nothing to help calm her fears. To her, she felt like a sitting duck. It was dark and would take a moment for her eyes to adjust, but the worst part was that if those evil men found her, she would lose everything. Her friends, her research, and her life would all be taken away from her.

After Ciel's eyes adjusted to the dark, she saw something that shocked her. Towards the left side of the dojo was a man with a very loose, blond ponytail that reached to the middle of his back, dressed in an orange men's kimono, navy blue hakama, and white tabi. He was well built and appeared to be sleeping. Across his lap rested an ichimonji as peacefully as he appeared to be resting.

Milan and Ciel stared at him. The same thought was running through their heads. "Who is this man?"

However, their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the other two bodyguards being cut down mercilessly. Whirling around, Milan was overcome with a fit of rage. Ciel would get out of here if it was the last thing he did.

The leader of the group, a giant of a man named Golem, slowly approached the duo. "Well, look what we found here, boys!" He was a brawler by nature and had the scars to prove it. He wore tattered clothing and refused to wear the traditional Japanese garb. However, he had quite the fascination with Japanese swords, especially the nagamaki which was his blade of choice.

He stopped less than ten feet away from the duo. "Ciel, get behind me," Milan whispered.

Golem grinned a sadistic grin. "Give up the girl and we'll let you go."

"Over my dead body," Milan replied. There was no way he would simply hand Ciel over. He was assigned to protect her at all costs and he would do just that until he died.

Golem chuckled. "Oh? Trying to be the brave hero, huh? Well, 'hero' that can be arranged," Golem said as he got in a fighting stance. Milan tightened his grip on his katana. He was prepared... or so he thought.

Milan charged at Golem ready to deliver a fatal strike. However, Golem dodged, proving that despite his size, he was quick. The sword whistled harmlessly through the air before Golem unleashed a solid punch easily knocking the wind out of Milan and him off his feet. Milan scrambled to his feet trying to catch his breath. He looked up only to be met with a fist to his chin, knocking him out.

Ciel, who had been frozen in fear during all this, finally found the courage to run. Unfortunately for her, she had nowhere to run to. Getting as far away as she could, she found her back pressed against the back wall. Shivering in fear, she looked around frantically for an escape, but could find none.

Golem walked up to her slowly making sure to crush Milan's glasses underneath his foot, symbolically and ultimately proving his superiority. Roughly grabbing her face, he spat out, "My orders are to kill you. I don't get any payment unless I prove that you are. I fully intend on doing so. However, before I kill you, how about we have some fun?" He let go of her face and grabbed the back of her kimono, effortlessly flinging her across the room, her pink bow and blond hair coming undone.

Turning around, he asked, "How about it, boys? Are we gonna let this pretty thing go to waste?" All the other men hooted and hollered in agreement.

Golem turned to Ciel again. She was holding herself and terrified. There was no one there to protect her. She was truly alone. If only that man or someone was there to... That man! She turned in his direction only to discover that he too was gone.

A feeling of hopelessness and despair settled in unlike anything she had previously experienced. Milan was lying on the ground, dead she thought. All have her men had been slain. There was no one to help her. So she whispered a silent prayer. "Help me. Please..."

Then...

"Rei Shiki Zaneidan!" A shockwave displaced the air as it travelled toward the group, instantly felling half-a-dozen of the men. Then, a flash of orange and two more men fell. The orange blur moved again and again almost too fast for Ciel's eyes to follow. Everywhere the blur went, death followed. Suddenly, the man that had been resting by the wall appeared in between Ciel and Golem with his ichimonji pointed at Golem threateningly.

Both Ciel and Golem were shocked that this man had been able to slay a dozen armed and trained men in a matter of moments. Ciel's mind was racing. Just who was this man?

Golem stood staring at the blade unable to say anything, do anything, or even think. Eventually though, he chuckled. "Well," he said in between laughs. "It looks like we have a master swordsman here! You must be pretty skilled. However, do you honestly think that you can protect her from me?"

The man didn't respond. Instead, he just kept glaring at Golem.

"Not much of a talker, eh? Oh well; it doesn't matter. Those men were not very skilled in swordsmanship. I, on the other hand, am far superior." As he said this he unsheathed his nagamaki.

Ciel was scared. She had heard of what Golem could do, and no matter how strong or skilled this man was, deep down she knew it was hopeless. "Y-you can't beat Golem..." she whispered to the stranger. He briefly glanced over his shoulder, acknowledging her, but not replying. Even after seeing the massive sword, the man still said nothing.

Golem continued. "I have my job, and I'm not about to let some puny scrub interfere in me getting my paycheck. So, ready or not, here I come!"

The man assumed a ready stance. Unblinking, he finally spoke. "...Let's go."

Golem charged at the man, his sword raised high to slice the man in half. The man used his speed to effortlessly block and dodge. So Golem, determined not to give up or give in, tried to push what advantage he thought he had, but the man just kept on blocking and/or dodging. It seemed that the man was just toying with him. He never even once tried to attack or counter.

Eventually, Golem realized that he was fighting a losing battle. His orders were clear, and he had to carry them out. He would find this guy and prove his superiority later, but for now he had his orders. It was either stay and be killed, or go and get more men. With every passing moment, the latter became an even more appealing option.

So after the man leapt back from one of Golem's strikes and away from Ciel; when Golem saw his opportunity, he leapt toward and grabbed her, hoping that he'd be able to somehow use the surprise and "head start" to his advantage. He roughly yanked the blonde-haired scientist to her feet and leapt towards the back of the building, the same spot he had originally thrown her from. The one thing he was not expecting was that he was too forceful. Underneath where he stepped was a basement and his landing caused the floor boards beneath him to crack.

'This has gone on long enough,' the man thought to himself. In one fluid movement, he charged at Golem and swung his blade. Golem was just fast enough to avoid the swing, but too slow to properly ready himself for another. At any rate, he would have to fight his way out and carrying Ciel would seriously hamper his fighting capability. Dropping her, he sliced at the man's head, but it was ducked under and leapt away from.

Golem assumed a ready stance, and took a moment to catch his breath. He was not expecting such an intense fight. However, the man did not even appear to be winded. 'Such speed, agility, AND endurance? How did he get so skilled?'

The man placed his right foot behind his left and pulled his sword to his face, the tip pointed menacingly at Golem. Golem drew his sword up to defend himself, but had no idea what was coming.

Suddenly, the man visibly tensed, his muscles tightening ready to release like a slingshot. "Rei Shiki Sengatotsu!" He charged forward at speed greater than what Golem had previously seen. Unable to defend himself against such an attack, the blade shot post his defences and pierced his chest. Blood began to pour out as the tip protruded out of Golem's back.

The nagamaki dropped as Golem felt his strength begin to fade. His limbs went limp and he began to see everything around him darken. Astonishingly, he still managed to find the strength to speak. "You... you think this means anything? I-I have... over a dozen men... waiting outside... for her... There is no way out... no escape..." He coughed up blood and continued. "She WILL die... today... and there is no- ungh... nothing... you can do... to stop it..." With that, Golem's final breath left his body.

The man pulled his sword out and rested Golem on the floor. Using Golem's clothes, he cleaned off his sword as well as he could before sheathing it and turning it to Ciel.

Ciel tried to stand up, but she found it difficult to get her footing on the broken and rotted floorboards. With the slightest movement she made, the floorboards would creak and moan.

The man did nothing but watch her. He knew what she did not: the whole dojo would collapse soon. When she got into a standing position, he rushed towards her. "Stay back!" he screamed. In the instant he grabbed her, the part of the floor she had been standing on gave way and the building began to collapse. Landing in the dojo's basement, holding Ciel bridal-style, he dove deeper into the basement and away from the falling debris. Only part of the floor had rotted and fallen allowing him to take shelter underneath the floor that still held its weight, but more than half of the building had crumbled underneath the rotted wood.

Once the man felt it was safe, he gently put Ciel down and began looking for a way out. Ciel however just stared. For the first time that day she felt safe, but why? She was trapped with a man she knew nothing about except that he was capable of killing her in a moment if he so desired. But then why would he rescue her? She was fairly sure they had never met before; they just happened to stumble into the house he was resting in. Still, he at least deserved to be thanked.

"You actually did it. You managed to beat Golem..." The man did not even bother to look at her. "Thank you. If it hadn't been for you..." She began to tear up. Just thinking about the evil of Golem and his men... What they wanted to do to her...

It took her a moment to catch herself and for her vision to return to normal. When her vision finally did, the man was kneeling right in front of her, as though silently comforting her.

"Are you okay?"

Ciel was caught off guard for a moment. Did she look okay? She thought she probably looked terrible after the day she had. But how was she? Emotionally, she was fairly stable for the moment, but that would probably change. Physically, she ached and bruised from being thrown around and having to run for so long. Mentally, she was capable. "Do I look fine to you?"

Turning away from her as he stood, he answered, "Well, aside from a few scrapes and bruises you appear fine." He held out his hand to help her up.

Accepting his kind offer, she placed her hand in his and used him as an anchor to pull herself up. However, worry overcame her as the man clamped his hand over her mouth, a finger raised to his lips.

That's when she heard it. The rest of the group entering the remains of the dojo. 'Searching for me, no doubt,' she thought to herself.

"Hey! We've got a live one here!" One of the men shouted.

Miraculously, Milan had survived. Unfortunately, those men had now captured him. Ciel refused to even think of what they would do to him.

"Well, will you look at that? This one looks to be that one fighter that tried to protect the scientist from Golem," one said.

"You mean he isn't dead? Wow, Golem's losing his touch," another said.

"Well, he's finally lost it, if you know what I mean," said a third. It sounded like they had gathered around Milan.

There was a moment of silence, almost as though they were honouring their dead leader before one of them suddenly burst out laughing. "And good riddance! About time someone offed him. He was just a waste of space here!" At this the other men chortled in agreement.

"Anyways, what are we gonna do now? We gotta find her and kill her right?" Ciel looked to see that the man had tightened his grip around the hilt of his blade. He was ready to defend her if need be.

"I say we just leave her be, for now," another one of the group began. "That guy was able to kill not just Golem but a dozen or so of us too. If we run into him again, we're sure to die. Not to mention the fact she's probably already dead."

The first guy spoke up again. "So what do we do about our paycheck? I dunno about you guys, but I'm broke! I need the cash!"

"Well, maybe we could find some evidence to prove she's dead..."

"Don't bother," a new voice began. "We're on a deadline. We go in there, we're just gonna waste time and maybe injure ourselves. I say we torch the place to make sure and take this guy with us. That way he can tell the boss that we finished the job. Who better to convince him than her head bodyguard?"

The men were all in agreement. With evil grins, dark scowls, and malicious intents, they picked up poor Milan and began to walk out of the woods, but not before throwing some dry wood on top of the dojo and igniting it.

After he was sure that Golem's men were far enough away, the man wasted no time looking for a way out. Time was now of the essence as the fire began to pick up in ferocity.

Ciel started coughing. The smoke was beginning to pour into their little hole. If they got out of this, then it would be the third time he had saved her life today.

"Come here," the man suddenly said. "You see that hatch at the back there? I'll give you a boost up and you see if you can push it open." As he said this, he knelt down and locked his hands together to form a little platform for Ciel to step on.

Ciel stepped into his hands and he gave her a boost. Ciel pushed against it, but at first it wouldn't budge. She pushed it a little harder and the wood bent, but it still remain locked in place. Worry began to grow in her chest as her pulse and breathing rate increased.

"Stay calm," the man simply said detecting that she was beginning to panic. Ciel took a deep breath, rolled up her sleeves, and tried again, this time with as much force as she could muster. The hatch bent before finally popping open, half of it falling outside of the hole while the other half fell down the hole and landed next to the man before breaking on the floor.

Turning around to help the man out of the hole, she was surprised to find that he had managed to get out on his own. They ran a short distance away from the now burned and ruined remains of what once was a dojo before turning around to take a look back. The wood was burning and smoke was rising, but thankfully the wood was wet enough that the fire would die without spreading too far.

'Fresh air,' Ciel thought now that they were far enough away from the slowly dying flames. Normally she'd enjoy being out here in the woods. She loved it here. But right now, the only thing she was thinking of was Milan. Worry overcame her. 'Just where is he?'

They stood there watching the flames for a while before it dawned on Ciel that she did not know the name of this man who had saved her. Throughout the day, with all that had been happening, she never had the time to wonder what his name was. "Please, sir... What's your name?"

The gentleman froze. "My name? ...Ugh, I can't remember..."

Ciel's eyes went wide. 'He can't remember his name? Then that means...' Taking a step closer, she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Just relax for a moment. You have amnesia. I'm sorry for waking you up. My name is Ciel and I'm a scientist. What shall I call you?"

The amnesiac shook his head. "It doesn't matter much to me."

Ciel thought for a moment. "Then how about... Rei?"

"Rei?"

"Yeah. It means 'Zero'," Ciel explained. 'And it just feels right,' she thought to herself.

The man pondered over this for a moment. Sure, it was a normally a girl's name, but he knew nothing about him. Literally, he knew zero. To him, it sounded about as good as anything... No, the more he thought about it, the better it sounded. 'Rei... That has a rather nice ring to it,' he thought.

"Yeah, sure. Call me 'Rei'." The man now called Rei turned around and began to exit the forest. "Ciel? We need to get you back to safety. If we run into any trouble, I'll protect you as best I can."

"Thank you," Ciel replied before turning to follow. "For everything."

They walked in relative silence for quite some time. The only talking between the two were when Ciel gave directions back to her hometown. They continued this way for some time before, seemingly out of the blue, Rei called out, "Ciel?"

"Yes?"

"You're welcome."

Ciel smiled in response.

Hello, everybody! Whether you are a fan of the Rurouni Kenshin series, the Mega Man series, Zero, or any combination of the above, I would like to thank you for reading my fanfiction. This story will be a retelling of the Mega Man Zero series within the Rurouni Kenshin universe. For those of you wondering how I thought of such an idea, allow me to explain.

I was introduced to Mega Man at a very young age. The original Mega Man Zero game was one of the first games I ever owned and one I still own and play to this day. When it comes to gameplay, the Mega Man Zero series is my favourite of all Mega Man series. I've played all of them countless times, and don't think I'll ever truly get tired of them.

When I first got into anime, Rurouni Kenshin was one of the first I actually got into. When I saw Kenshin's fight against Shishio (it was definitely a fight in his "castle"), I remember he pulled off this particular combo. Every attack he had in this combo looked very similar to one of Zero's EX skills. So that got me thinking, "What if Zero had to duel Kenshin?" I almost immediately decided that Zero would have to live in Kenshin's world for this to happen and that eventually spawned this. So in a mad craze, I wrote the entire first chapter in a notebook in high school... Unfortunately, that notebook has gone missing and I've never found it. So, I rewrote the first chapter as this!

Now, you may be thinking, "When will we see Kenshin fight Zero?" My answer to that is... Probably never. I don't really intend to 'marry' the two universes rather than retell Zero's (Rei's) story inside Kenshin's universe. This means two things: 1) Don't expect to be seeing many Kenshin characters appear in this story very much if it all, and 2) It is not impossible. Who knows? Rei and Kenshin may meet up on the street and decide to fight for one reason or another. Perhaps I'll do a spin-off story where such an event happens. Who knows?

At any rate, thank you again for reading! Review, Follow, and Favorited! This is TOWN aka TheOtherWhiteNerd signing off!

Sayonara!