Life of a Rurouni

Disclaimer: we all know that I do not own rurouni kenshin or any other
characters from the tv series. They are all the creations of the great
Watsuki Nobuhiro. Hope you enjoy this story as much I like writing it!
Happy reading!!!
P/s my Japanese is really really very bad so please bear with me.

SPOILER ALERT: Episode 55 Tragedy in the Storm Soujirou's past

Prologue: Leaving the past behind

'Everything so new and beautiful!' Soujirou thought to himself as he lay down by a tree
near the riverbank, gazing at the silvery stars that shone so brightly in the night sky.
It has been probably about two months ever since his last battle with Himura-san. It seemed
like it was only yesterday when he had lost the battle to Battousai.

'Iie, not Battousai, just like I'm no longer Tenken no Soujirou, but Seta Soujirou the
rurouni.'

Soon after he had left the Juppon Gatana, he received news on Shishio's and Yumi-san's
death. Surprisingly, their deaths did not upset him as much as he thought it would have.
Shishio, the man who taught Soujirou everything he knew was gone and he didn't really feel
much grief.

'Tsuyo kereba iki, Yowa kereba Shin.' The main principle that he had lived by ever since
Shishio 'saved' him from his foster parents many years ago. The strong survive and the weak
shall die…

Soujirou pushed the memories of his past to the back of his mind. 'Remembering the past
does not help in the progress of this journey. All it does is give me headaches. Well, so
does thinking and all the emotions that had been unlocked in my last battle with Himura-san.'
Soujirou giggled at this thought.

"Maa…its late I really should go to sleep now." With that, he closed his eyes and soon
drifted away into a calming slumber that he knew he deserved.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After Soujirou had finished his work, he finally found the time to clean the wound that
was caused by a sake bottle that was thrown at him by his grandfather who owned a rice mill.

Suddenly…

'Arg!!!!!'

Soujirou, curious to know who was screaming ran to the direction in which the sound was
heard. When more screaming and battle cries were heard, Soujirou paused just beyond the
light and in the shadows. He slowly peaked to see what was going on, only to find a very
badly burnt man, who was covered in bandages, finishing off a police officer who was probably
on duty that night.

Soujirou, frightened by what he had just witnessed, tried to escape. Unfortuantely, he
made his presence known to the killer when he accidentally stepped on a twig.

"You saw me," the killer said turning around. "Brat! Because you have seen me, I'll have
to…kill you!" The man said as he made his way towards the young boy.

At first Soujirou was afraid, but as the man slowly raised his sword, he starts smiling.
Puzzled at the boy's reaction, he asked, "Are you that happy to die?"

At first, his only response was an even bigger smile. But soon, Soujirou says in a terrified
voice, "Huh? What?" then starts laughing with his head bowed down.

The man just looked at Soujirou for a while before saying, "Brat, I'll let you live if
you get me bandages and food…"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Soujirou woke with a start. Not only because of the dream, but also mainly because he
thought heard some movement from somewhere in the bushes. As he stood up to make his way
towards the sound, he let his hand slide slowly down towards the hilt of his katana. To his
surprise, it was just a false alarm. It was just a young deer that had probably gotten lost
from its herd.

Soujirou, having already woken up decided to help the poor creature. Besides, he knew how
it felt to be lost and alone.He reached into his little bag and pulled out what was to be
his breakfast. Soujirou was hoping to calm the animal down first. Fortunately for him, the
little deer was accepting his treat. However, Soujirou didn't know that something of such
small size could eat so much!

'This little one sure can eat a lot!' He thought to himself as he patted it on the back.

'If only Yumi-san was here, she would probably be trying to teach the animal some table
manners!' Soujirou couldn't help but to burst out laughing when he pictured it in his mind.

Soujirou slowly relaxed, however his guard was still up for anyone who might be after
him. For the past few days, he had a feeling that someone somewhere was watching him.
However, whenever he turned around there would be no one there. Once again for the second
time that night, Soujirou fell into a soothing sleep, but unlike the last one, this one was
free from dreams and nightmares.


The next morning, Soujirou woke up to find his bag literally eaten! For the first time
in a long time, Soujirou really wanted to cry. Everything he had was in that bag. Including
all of his… money!

"Oh no!" Soujirou quickly scrambled to the remains of his bag.

Fortunately, his money pouch was still intact.

'Phew, that was close. It may not be much, but it sure is better then nothing.' 'Oh well,
now for breakfast. Since I don't have anything right now, I guess its back to fishing.'

Soujirou slowly stood up, fastened his katana at his side and made his way back to the
river where he had intended to stay. Until he caught something for breakfast.

After breakfast, Soujirou cleared up and moved on. While walking, he suddenly recalled
the dream he had the night before.

'I wonder what it was supposed to mean?' 'I've never
had any dreams before. So why start now?' This went on for quite awhile, until…

"Ah!, I really shouldn't think so much, because if I do, I land up in a hole somewhere
soon." He told himself as he stared at the big hole that someone had dug, and at his right
foot,which stopped just outside the hole.

'There sure are some weird people nowadays, digging holes in the ground in the middle of
nowhere.' He said walking away with his back towards the hole.

By the time a town had came into sight, it was already late afternoon. Soujirou speeded
up his pace a little. 'Yatta! Finally I can sleep comfortably in a normal bed.' When
suddenly it struck him that he was close to being broke. With the small sum of money he
had left, he could barely afford dinner.

'Himura-san, what did you do in a situation like this? Surely you had run low on money
at least once in your years of wandering.'

'Ah yes, since it's a town, there is bound to be merchants who might be happy to hire a
guard. I might even be lucky enough to find a generous one.' "Then again, maybe not." He
whispered to himself as he got a closer look at the town.

It looked like a typhoon had just been through it. The houses look like they haven't been
repaired in a long long time. The walls were dirty. Even some of the tiles that made the
roofs of the houses were falling off. And to add to it, it was deserted, barely two or three
people walked the streets.As Soujirou got closer to the town, it was no wonder very few
people were outdoors, the town stunk, really badly. It gave off a suffocating smell. Besides
that,therewere guards patrolling the streets, at every corner and ally. But this didn't
stop him from wanting to go to the town.

'Besides, I need to go through town, it is definitely much better than climbing a mountain
anytime.' With that thought in mind, Soujirou moved towards the town.

*~@~*
Well, this is my first fic so please be kind and review
it so I'll try and improve it if I can. Also let me know if I
should continue it. But anyway...Hope you liked it!!!