A New Life

A Rurouni Kenshin / Yu Gi Oh Duel Monsters Crossover Journey

This is my thinking. The wanderings of Himura Kenshin granted him peace in the end. He was allowed to be reborn, but his legend lived on long past his death. His legend was the basis of the Shien cards in Yu Gi Oh with his darker side being the basis of their spell and trap cards.

In the universe of Yu Gi Oh, the cards have homes of their own when they are not in battle. This is a crossover between modern day, the card universe the cards live in, and what will eventually happen when the cards are called into duels.

*I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Yu Gi Oh, but I thank them for their intellectual properties that allowed my inspiration to blossom as it did.*

I have no idea what happened to me. I don't know where this place is. I have to find a way back home before something happens to me.

At first glance I have a basic idea of where I am. It's a forested area, full of trees and underbrush. The moon is high in the sky, casting a glow over the trees and long shadows over the ground. The moon looks full, so it must be near the end or beginning of a month. A quick glance at my cellphone tells me that it should be mid afternoon and that there's no reception. The battery is at 73% so I could listen to music while I walk, but that's probably not a good idea. I'm in an area I don't know, so I know I have to be on my toes. All I have on me to work with right now is my tiny pocket knife, some change, a few toothpicks, a toy sonic screwdriver and a couple mints from a restaurant I had recently visited. No food, no water, no real weapons to protect myself.

I spin around quickly at hearing a pop sound and see the flash of blue energy vanishing as what I think could have been a portal closes. Shit. Well now I know I'm stuck, unless this world I'm in has a base in magic and I can find someone I can convince to help me. Not seeing any other option, I find a stick as tall as I am and strip the extra branches off it. It takes me 20 minutes to sharpen the tip to a respectable point before I start walking.

I feel like I've been walking four hours now. I found a creek, so I'm not thirsty. Bad news is I forgot that mint is good for raising someone's appetite. So after the 3 mints I ate to get rid of my hunger I'm cursing myself. My stomach feels like it's gnawing at my mind. The gurgles remind me of my need. I try to spit a curse at my body but instead let out a quiet burp. It tastes like acid. I force myself to keep walking, caution starting to go out the window. I was very quiet before my need for food started to take over. Now I'm walking through the forest rustling the leaves and snapping twigs as I go. Curse of a 21st century city boy. Everything you need is one debit transaction away. Guess I'm not so lucky now.

It's been a couple more hours of walking. The wild blackberries I found helped. I'm quiet again in my movements, but how long that lasts is up for debate. The sun is coming up now. It's somewhat on my right, so I know I'm traveling northeast through this forest. At least I have my bearings. Tiredness has started making me yawn, but I can fight it off a while longer. After all, I've been up roughly 16 hours. About the only thing I can be happy about is the fact that games don't take much energy to play, and they can teach you a lot about staying alive in strange places if you ever need it. Thank you Minecraft for basic survival skills. Stay alert, watch your footing, carry a weapon, and don't be afraid to fight for your life. These are my last thoughts before my lack of focus causes me to not see the trip wire. I fell asleep secure and relatively safe in the net that sprang from the forest undergrowth and lifted me into the air.

I woke up much later in the day then I planned. The light throbbing over my left eye told me I had slept for at least 10 hours. As I slowly sat up and put a hand over my now closed left eye, I scanned my surroundings. I had been taken indoors. Wooden framework walls, painted and waxed paper set into the frames. A small shrine with incense burning in an inset cubbyhole with a sliding wall to close it off. The floor was made of woven reed squares. On the wall to my right was a chest with my leather coat laying atop it. All contents from my pockets were laid out beside it. I pulled the simple blanket aside and found I was still wearing my clothes. My shoes were nowhere to be seen however. As was my impromptu spear. Strangely though I felt at ease here.

After giving my temples a strong squeeze to ease the pain in my head I moved to kick my feet over the side of the bed I had been given. The fact that my feet never left a horizontal angle told me the last piece of information I needed to know. I was in an old style Japanese home or inn. I was on a Japanese futon. I rose to my feet to gather my things when I noticed something that bothered me a bit. My cellphone had been smashed. Long cracks ran along the glass face. I ran my finger along the longest crack before pressing the button at the bottom. The screen though cracked badly lit up. I followed a hunch and accessed my alarm clock app, finding that it had gone off earlier in the day. Whoever was searching my pockets must have smashed my phone when the alarm went off. Probably thought it was bewitched or something. Once I had all my things back in my pockets, I decided to check out the shrine. I sat on my knees in front of it and looked it over piece by piece. There was a woodblock print of a man in red armour holding a sword above his head placed next to the incense burner. I slowly put my fingers on the print before I picked it up. The picture looked familiar to me. I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I didn't hear the door behind me slide closed. What roused me from my thoughts was hearing the scrape of metal leaving a wooden sheath.

I only just missed being cut in half by a sword swing. The man that was holding the sword was also dressed in all black. His look was a fusion of old and future Japan. Black kimono and hakama, black hand and wrist wraps, a black shoulder and arm guard that looked like it had come from Tron with the light running through it a deep almost poisonous purple. I'll admit I was scared. In all my life, the only weapons that ever swung at me were bamboo rods by friends in mock sword fights. I could feel that this man meant business. He wouldn't hear words right now, which meant I had to act. Reaching for my cellphone again, I ran through the paper wall into a hallway while accessing my music player. I needed something to fight with and some good music to help put me in the right frame of mind. I looked over my shoulder quickly while running to find I was being chased. "Good" is all I could think while I frantically searched for some kind of a weapon. I had the right music loading as I avoided another swipe. The running must have alerted others. To my right and left I saw doors sliding open with many strangely armoured individuals poking their heads out. Ahead of me I saw a turn in the hallway, which I hoped I could use to my advantage. I needed an edge quickly. The more I ran, the harder it was to keep going. I was never known for long distance running. The corner was coming quickly and I had to act.

I again narrowly avoided the sword as I took two steps up the wall and kicked off it into the straightaway. I thought I was in the clear. The music finally finished loading and started playing, the leading beat bringing a smile to my face as I skidded to a halt and turned. My eyes flared with confidence as I faced the one who had been chasing me. Seeing me like this must have alerted my attacker to a change because he stopped and held his sword at the ready. Neither one of us seemed ready to make a move for what felt like an eternity. We were both sizing each other up, searching for a weakness. He and I both knew the longer we waited, the more rested the other would be and the more power we could put into any strike. I'll admit, I was the one at a disadvantage. I was breathing heavily from the running, but the watch and wait tactic he and I had taken was fixing that. It was only 2 minutes standing still but it felt like an eternity. Then the tranquility was broken.

We both heard a hissing sound behind the man in black. One of the others behind him had lit a fuse on something that looked like a pringles tube with a string coming out of it and threw it. I was ready to panic and jump out the window when someone very short in white kimono with a blue face veil jumped in front of me and stopped the bomb from reaching me. Everyone present was confused at the actions of the small man in front of me until he spoke 2 words that lowered everyone's weapons. "Shien Returns" he barked in a raspy voice.

*More to come later.*