Author's Note:
Wow I wrote a Peacemaker Kurogane story (never thought that would happen). My deepest thanks go to Sakura02 who first accepted the character of Amaterasu for her story Last Time of My Life, which led to me being smacked by the frying pan of inspiration (which certain authors on this site are familiar with) and thus Suyuan was born. Chapter title is courtesy of cjmarie, who is one of my favorite GW authors.
Disclaimers:
I don't own Peacemaker Kurogane or any of its characters. I do, however, own Amaterasu, her father and mother, and any other characters I may come up with. Sentences with an * were borrowed with permission (see following sentence) from Sakura02's story Last Time of My Life to help tie the two stories together. I, Sakura02, hereby grant permission to author Hellfire13 to use and recreate any certain amount of sentences from my story Last Time of My Life for the general purpose of reference and closure for her new story. I hope you enjoy the story, comments and criticisms are accepted.
Her first thought was to find Okita in Edo, so she trekked in the general direction she thought was south, unaware that her friend had already left the Shieikan to live out his days serving under Kondo in the city of Kyoto*. After four long years of searching, Amaterasu had finally located her childhood friend Soji. She had journeyed over much of the central island of Japan, barely resting or eating in order to put as much distance between her and her father as she could. She had asked about Soji in every village she had stopped in and finally received news about him in a small village in northern Kyoto. According to the village shaman, Soji had helped to form the Shinsengumi, a special military police force, and was serving under a man named Kondo. The shaman gave her detailed directions, frowning slightly at the noticeable bruises that covered most of the exposed skin and the severe limp as she walked away.
*Mibu, Kyoto*
A group of Shinsengumi officers were returning from patrol only to discover a body collapsed in front of the main gate of the Shinsengumi compound. Not knowing what else to do, one of the soldiers picked her up and carried her into the compound only to see Soji crouching on the ground teasing Saizo with a piece of food. Hearing the footsteps of the approaching officers, he glanced in the direction of the noise and frowned at the limp form in one of the officer's arms.
"Who do we have here?" Soji inquired as he stood up and walked over to the officer.
"I don't know, sir" the officer replied "we found her unconscious in front of the main gate".
"A woman?" Soji wondered as he looked her over. The first thing he noticed was the thread-bare clothing and the sword clutched tightly in her hands. There were visible cuts and bruises on both arms and legs. She whimpered as he ran his fingers over her left wrist which was completely red and bruised and he could feel a bone that was sticking out of place. He became aware of a strange smell coming from below him and looked down to see blood dripping from a roughly made bandage on her right foot.
Wondering who the woman was, Soji reached forward and brushed a strand of limp black hair away from her face. He gazed down in shock at a familiar face that he had not seen in seventeen years.
"Amaterasu".
Well that is chapter one, I apologize for the shortness. I look forward to your positive and negative reviews. The negative ones might make me cry though. I will make chapter two longer or I will die trying. Please review, it makes me happy.
Hellfire