There Are Only Strangers In My World
A Rurouni Kenshin Fiction
= Chapter Five =
~ The Splitting of Ways ~

Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin does not, in any way, belong to me…

"Himura-san, I have to go after him. Alone. Thank you for your help and hospitality. But I must go."

He nodded at her. He understood. Sakata Yumiko. Murashino Junichi. Both running in the dark of the night. One in a desperate flight. The other in an unrelenting chase. Himura Kenshin looked on until the figures disappeared into the camouflage of darkness, then gathered his things and walked. In the same direction. He also carried the sword left behind by the disappearing assassin.

He stopped. He was out of breath. Which, in itself, was a strange thing. Maybe the stresses on both mind and body had been too much. She was still running. Panting a little, but still running. And she saw him. Slumped against a tree.

She approached slowly. "Murashino-san, we need to talk."

He conceded, and sat down. She was as beautiful as before. Maybe more so, with the toils of the journey that had strengthened her. He was just as she remembered, despite the hardened set of his face.

"Are you still going to kill?"

His eyes were sad, then hardened again. "If it is what it takes. Giri. I have to do it."

When she spoke again, her voice was filled with a pain indescribable, "But you have killed many more than the number of your family. Isn't it enough? When will the killing stop?" If only Himura-san were here. Maybe a former hitokiri could talk more sense into him.

Murashino Junichi knew in his heart the sensibility of her words, but refused to yield. "I will do what I need to do."

Suddenly, a different voice joined in, "But do you really need to kill?" A shadowy figure emerged from the forest, katana held high above his head, making to strike Junichi.

"No!" Both Junichi and Yumiko chorused. As the sword came sweeping down.

In a flash, Murashino Junichi, assassin, saw his life flash before his eyes. Saw the things he would sorely miss. Saw the girl he had loved since time began scream. Her mouth open in a scream he never heard. He closed his eyes. Waiting for the death blow. A few short strands of hair fell into Murashino's lap.

Kenshin, the shadowy figure, said calmly, "You see the life that you have. The life that you would not have led if I had killed you. The life that you have taken from others like you. You saw, not the giri you had to fulfil, but what you love. Not hate, but love. Do you really need to kill?"

By then, Murashino Junichi was sobbing. He knew, in all certainty, that he had gone astray. Sakata Yumiko had tears in her eyes. She was so thankful. And she marvelled at the way Himura Kenshin had handled things. Truly, he was a changed man. Not the Battousai. Just Himura Kenshin. A peace-loving rurouni. Murashino Junichi cried. For the lives he has wasted, for his life that he had almost wasted entirely. He cried. The tears cleansing him like nothing else could. It took a wise man, one who had seen it all, been through it all, to tell him so. Himura Kenshin. Then he saw, in his blurred vision, the X-shaped scar. The man with the X-shaped scar. Battousai. So he had seen it all, and gone through it all. And he had come out better for it. So would he, he vowed. If not for his sake, then for the sake or Yumiko. If not for her sake, then for the sake of the reformed hitokiri who in turn, had passed on the sacred knowledge of healing to him. He would split from the violent ways that his family's death had born in him.

Author's Note:
Hope you liked this chapter! ^__^ Review, onegai?

Replies:
fujifunmum: He got salvaged from the garbage dump, to Yumiko's relief! *grin* I'm glad you like Yumiko, though. She's another strong character.
darkangelwings: Here's the next chapter (at last)! It's not that short! ^__^
Akal-Saris: Thanks for the suggestion - but it's just not, well, me. At least, not in this story. Myabe I'll try it in a future one. ^__^
Susan: Thanks a lot for reading! The turning point for Junichi has been reached; what happens next? Can't tell you myself, you'll have to ask the characters - they make the story. *grin*
DiaBLo: Thank you! To date, you've read nearly all of my stories, and it's a wonder you didn't get bored to death ^__^ thanks for reading!

~rurouni