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Prologue: The Fires of Hell

'The forest is rather quiet at this time of night. It's peaceful.'

Kenshin walked softly through the undergrowth, taking his time. 'I don't have to be back to Katsura-sama quite yet. I want to enjoy this time, that I do.' He smiled a little when he saw a small rodent scamper across his path. 'There is no hurry for me, that there isn't.'

He had been walking for a good hour when he caught the first hint of trouble. A shrill whistle cut through the night air. 'Police?' No. Couldn't be. Not this far out. Kenshin forgot about his walk and headed in the direction that the sound came from. As he neared, the shouts and screams reached his ears, and he narrowed his eyes. 'There is a village that I passed in this direction, that there is. I need to go see what is going on.' He poured on the speed. When he reached the edge of the clearing he had passed, he halted. What he saw, could not be happening.

The villagers were all gathered in the town square, or what could be called as such. It was more like a gap in the small buildings. He recognized some of the rebels in the group that was keeping the people in a tight group. Bound up at the feet of the biggest rebel were three Shinsengumi swordsmen. They looked dead.

'Perhaps the village sympathizes with the Shinsengumi. Wouldn't be the first time. But usually Katsura-sama gives a huge speech about the wrongs of the Bakufu and leaves with the swordsmen, that he does. What is going on here doesn't make

sense.' He watched as a man was pulled out of the crowd of villagers and thrown to the ground in front of . . . Haname. That was his name. Haname-sama. The big rebel looked down and said something that the small hitokiri could not hear. The villager trembled in fear, and Haname laughed loudly. He gestured, and the man was pulled into a kneeling position in front of the rebel. Haname pulled his katana.

Kenshin's eyes bugged. 'What! No, this is NOT happening!' But before he could shout or even move, the sword swept down and the poor man's head was lopped off at the neck. Kenshin could not believe it.

"NO!" The word came out of his mouth unbidden. Haname turned and spotted Kenshin. All he did was smile. Kenshin could not abide by this! He had to do -

CRACK!

The hitokiri never heard the man behind him, and before he passed out from the blow to his head, he heard Haname yell, "Burn this village to the ground, and these traitors with it!"

No . . .

Blackness.

Kenshin woke up to the sounds of Hell. Screaming, crying, calls for help . . .

He got up and wobbled, his head throbbing. Why was it so hot? He turned to the clearing and cried out in horror. Fire! The houses were burning! The hot wind brought with it the smells of the fire, smoke and . . . burning flesh.

"Oh, kami . . . " Kenshin threw up. He wiped his arm over his mouth and ran to the village. Maybe he could help! He was only a boy, but maybe, just maybe . . . He got to the first building he heard screams from, only to watch it collapse, the screams halting. But more replaced them as he ran through, trying to find something, anything to put the fires out. But there was nothing. Not even the well. The bucket had been sent to the bottom and left there. Kenshin saw the severed rope, and a cold hatred seeped into his soul as he gripped the edge of the well.

'Haname . . . I have a feeling that this was not sanctioned by Katsura-sama. Cold blooded murder, that's what this is. He will not get away with this, that he won't! Not while I'm alive!' The smoke was starting to get to the young man, and he had to get to a clearer spot. He saw a child screaming in a window of a house that was nearly burned to the ground. 'I can at least save one,' he thought as he ran towards the house and into it. He was greeted by an inferno. Despite his heart breaking, he had to retreat. 'DAMN IT!' He collapsed in the middle of the road, his skin raw and burnt. 'Oh Kami . . . I can't save them! No . . . ' He threw up again, but this time from his emotions. " I can't save them, I can't . . . rest their souls . . . HANAME!" The full throated scream came from the bottom of his horrified and enraged soul. "HANAME! I swear, on this village, you will PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE! You hear me, you cold son of a BITCH! You hear me, HANAME!"

"Kenshin! Wake up, Ken-"

Kenshin jerked awake and shot up into a sitting position. His chest was heaving, sweat was pouring down his skin, and his eyes were wide and gold. "Haname . . . that son of a bitch . . . " He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A hand went to his forehead, pushing red locks back from his face. When he opened his eyes again, they were violet and calm. He finally saw Sanosuke and Yahiko kneeling by his futon. "Sano. Yahiko." He took another calming breath, and his chest stopped heaving. "Thank you for waking this one."

"Hell, you were having one terrible nightmare! You kept screaming and coughing, and you were cursing the name of a . . . 'Haname'." Yahiko shrugged. "Whoever that guy is."

Kenshin closed his eyes. "Yahiko, it wasn't a dream."

Sanosuke touched the older man's shoulder. "It wasn't? It sounded like one."

"Oh, if only it was, Sano. No. It was a memory."

Yahiko's eyes grew large. "Oh, my God! I'm-we're sorry!"

"It's okay, guys. This one is fine now. Let's just say that Haname got what was coming to him, that he did. And the village was avenged. So it is only a terrible memory." The red haired man paused. "But one that has not haunted this one for a long time, since the execution of Haname Goji. Why has it come back now?"

'The last time a memory came back to haunt me like this, Enishi came and tried to murder all of us. This does not bode well, that it does not.'