I do not own Rurouni Kenshin! Also, I have not finished reading all of it yet, so please, if something is false because of something that was given away AFTER book 18 please don't be angry about it! First RuroKen fic!
The falling of one thousand cherry blossoms in the sunset was a sight to behold. The pink leaves fluttered and danced in the wind. Their dance, so free and fragile, reminded Kenshin of the one girl who fully captured his heart. The way she moved about, so freely, yet precisely. In the days of the Bakumatsu Kenshin's heart was void. He never thought once about taking a person's life, until he met her. A young girl, only a few years younger than he at the time, had warmed Kenshin's frigid heart. The girl, Miyoko, had been training in the sword arts when Kenshin had stumbled upon her. Actually, he had been ordered to kill her entire family, but when he saw her training he could not bear to kill her. Her movements were so graceful, like a butterfly. She appeared to float on air and the twirling of her sword was more of a beautiful dance than the death strikes they were meant to be.
Aside from her sword dance was her stunning appearance. Her skin was a rosy pink and her golden-red hair hung in a loose braid down to her waist. Her emerald eyes sparkled and a small smile played on her lips. Kenshin watched as she trained until she turned to the door. Miyoko gasped when she saw the stranger standing in her doorway. Battousai. With one sidelong glance at Miyoko Kenshin turned and left, deciding to leave her family's slaughter for another day.
As it turned out, he never had to kill her family. A fire caught around her home that night and the building collapsed upon her family. From the reports of the townspeople there were no survivors. Kenshin left the small village, but not without a tinge of sadness at the loss of such a beautiful girl.
It had been years since Kenshin had thought of Miyoko. He liked to think that she was resting in peace with her family, but aimlessly wondered if maybe she was still alive somewhere. After the Bakumatsu Kenshin freed himself of the killing and grew a new life, sworn to protecting those who were weaker.
"Kenshin!" Yahiko called. "There is a travelling fair in town! I want to go see it! Let's go!"
"Haha, alright." He replied with a smile.
The travelling fair had many sights to see. There were contortionists, vendors, and what drew in Yahiko the most, dancers. Yahiko begged Kenshin to go to the tent that hid the dancers. Kenshin agreed and followed the young boy. Inside the tent were many girls, jumping and twirling to the rhythm of the gentle music. Each girl was beautiful and Kenshin watched Yahiko's eyes bulge at the sight of the women.
"Hey, redhead" the ringleader nudged Kenshin, "If you like what you see come back her as soon as the sun sets."
Kenshin, out of pure curiosity, returned to the tent that night. Only, the beautiful dancers he had seen before were no longer dancing, but were nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, the ring leader called out to all of the men in the tent.
"For all of you who have seen our beautiful dancers, now is your chance to buy one for yourself! They are fully trained in the ways of pleasure I assure you! They'd love for you to take them home!" HE laughed and the other men laughed with him. "The first girl we have is our redhead butterfly. She can be feisty at times, but one good crack of the whip settles her down. Be wary, without her chains she's a fighter."
A large man tossed a girl into the ring of men. She was chained by the ankles and her hands were chained behind her back. She had many tribal tattoos winding around her arms legs and stomach. She was barely covered so you could guess where the tattoos stretched to. The man came closer and cracked her firmly with a leather whip, causing her to whimper. She looked up to the crowd.
"Only one thousand yen for her!" The ring leader called to the crowd. The men muttered amongst themselves. The girl looked up again and caught Kenshin's eye. The red hair with the golden streaks, the green eyes that begged the crowd for mercy and the pale pink skin on her cheeks triggered a memory in Kenshin. Miyoko.
"I'll buy her!" Kenshin passed the money over to the ring leader.
"Why thank you, sir!" The plump man responded. "Here is the key; you can undo her at home. Or keep her locked up, whichever you prefer." He added with a wink.
Miyoko moved back away from Kenshin, earning herself a kick from the man with the whip. She coughed up blood and Kenshin moved in. With one swift movement he lifted her up. He could feel her trembling against him. He set her down for a moment and took off his yukata. He wrapped it around her small body and lifted her again. He carried Miyoko back to the dojo and into his room.
"Hey there, you're okay." He cooed to the girl. "Look, here's a nice futon for you to sleep on, and there is a bathing area two rooms down. Take these" he handed her an old kimono from Kaoru "and put these on when you are clean."
"H-hai." She mumbled and tried to stand, but the chains made her topple into Kenshin's arms. "G-gomen Nas-sai!" She cried.
"It's not a problem, here you go." He undid the chains and sent her off to the bathing area.