Hitokiri Battousai, Rurouni
By
TigerWolf
~ Part One ~
What if there was never a Tomoe, and Kaoru lived during the Bakumatsu? This is what I think would happen.
/~~\
The day was calm and the people of Kyoto walked the streets, enjoying the peaceful day. Himura the Battousai was sitting in the back of a restaurant slash bar, it was dark and somewhat smoky, but the food was decent and people tended to keep to themselves here, which was exactly why he was there. He took a sip of the tea he was drinking and continued observing the people in the place. Over in the corner a man was selling opium secretly to another man. At the bar three men where talking about there experiences so far in the Bakumatsu, then at one of the tables a group of men were talking about the latest news on how the Bakumatsu was effecting there everyday life. A few girls who where obviously whores where hanging off a few men who would soon be leaving to a more secluded place. All in all, there was not really anything interesting happening. Just as he was thinking about leaving, a girl walked through the doors.
This girl was very odd. She looked to be no older then him, only about fourteen or so. She wore a dark purple gi with a dark blue lining and a black hakama; at her side was a katana and he could tell that within the folds of her gi a wakizashi. She had long, midnight black hair that was held in a high ponytail. The front parts of her hair that could not be held back—it fell beautifully around her face and made her blue eyes stand out wonderfully. Her eyes did not seem either innocent or young, they sparkled with mischief and beauty and a hint of power, which complimented perfectly with her small nose and the slight smile on her pink lips. She was the meaning of beautiful, but the question of why she was not in a traditional kimono and without an escort was a question he would like to see the answer to.
She walked over to the bar and asked for sake and green tea. The bartender set a bottle in front of her and a cup of tea. She poured herself some sake and drank it in one hit. She did this three times then took a sip of tea. The she seemed to become memorized by the tea in her hand and swirled it a few times, watching.
Then three of the men from the bar stood up and came over to her. "Hey girl, why don't you come over and drink with us." The biggest and assumed leader of the three said.
"No thanks." the girl replied simply and halfway politely, while looking at them with a small smile. She then turned her gaze back to the tea in her hand. The man then got an irritated look on his face.
"Look here, a girl like you cant sit here by herself. I am telling you to come and sit with us, and then you can make our time and yours more enjoyable."
This time the girl's hand quickly went to the folds of her gi, and in less then a second she had her wakizashi to the guy's neck. "I said no." The girl said more sternly, her small smile gone. The Battousai took note at the speed of her draw and how her ki had not even sparked up at the current threat. He still stood and walked to the side of the girl.
"If you take any violent actions you shall lose your lives. Kyoto does not need fake samurai like yourselves here and I will gladly get rid of you." Battousai said. Then men smirked and drew their swords.
"We will not let a shrimp like you and a girl threaten us." One of them said. One charged Battousai with his sword. He drew his sword in less than a minute, sliced the person's neck and did the same to the other. The girl who had her wakizashi to the leader's neck quickly turned and spun into him. Using centrifugal motion, she impaled the man in the chest, for he was out of her reach to just slit his throat, and did it all before he could draw a sword or for the Battousai to do it for himself. Golden eyes meet blue eyes for a long moment, it seemed they both were debating whether to kill the other, then they both wiped their swords clean of blood and put them away. She turned back to the bar, put some currency on the bar and started to walk out, Battousai following behind. They walked side by side down the street of Kyoto neither speaking.
"I didn't need your help." The girl said flatly, not looking at him or stopping.
"I choose to help." He said simply. A few more minutes passed in silence. "What is your business in Kyoto?"
"I'm a Rurouni." She said simply as they turned down an ally "If you excuse me, I must go, I have matters to attend to." She said, as she leapt on top of the two story building lining the ally way and moving roof to roof away. Battousai stood there a moment debating whether to go after her or not. He decided not to and turned back to the street, wondering if he would see her again.
/~~\
Battousai received an order to assassinate Kyoto administrator Shigekura Jubee that night. He was working his way through a group of samurai on the way to escape from the assassination and he found that one man would not quit. He was not very skilled, but he had a strong will to live. He heard one call him Kiyosato. His stubbornness to live enabled him to give Battousai a sword slash along his left cheek, running parallel to the jaw line with his final attack. Battousai, as shocked as he was that one could harm him, gave one final blow to the man. As the dying Kiyosato lay on the ground, he used his final breath to speak "Tomoe." Battousai gave him a fatal stab through the heart to end his life. Battousai went to stand from his killing and found a person standing not more the six feet away. His eyes traveled up the figure to find it to be the girl in the bar from earlier. Her Katana was drawn and angled downwards, her head was bowed and her bangs hid her eyes. She took a step forward, knelt down to the man and gently stroked his hair from his face.
"Kiyosato, I told you not to go tonight but you did not listen. Tomoe will be so heart broken when she finds you. If only I found you missing sooner, I could have saved you. Rest is peace my friend." She said. She stood and placed her katana back in her scabbard in one swift movement. She looked up to the Battousai with a small smile. The Battousai looked back at her with golden eyes, trying to make out whether she was an enemy or not. "I see we meet again, Battousai." His eyes widened slightly at her statement to him. He never said his name before, how did she know? He stepped closer to her, katana still drawn. Then two chains came at them from the shadows, surprising them both. One chain made its way around Battousai's neck and quick reflexes put a fist to his neck so the chain made its way around that instead of just his neck. The girl was not as lucky though, the chain aimed at her knocked the back of her head, knocking her out.
Battousai followed the chain to its owner to find a ninja standing on the roof. The ninja made a quick jerk with the chain to make the Battousai come flying to the top of the roof. "Die Battousai!" He yelled, and made another movement with the chain to through the Battousai. But he used the movement to his favor and rebounded off the wall he was meant to hit, coming flying at his attacker to kill with the katana he still held. With one strike he sliced the ninja diagonally across his chest and killed him with a shower of blood. Battousai leapt from the roof down to the girl. She interested him greatly, so he flicked the blood off his Katana and put it away. Then he knelt down to pick up the girl.
He reached the doors of the headquarters at Kohagi Inn. He entered to find a surprise. He hoped to get in unnoticed, but the owner Okam was awake and noticed him. "I would never think you to be the type to bring a girl back here." She said, while walking toward them.
"It's not as it seems. She got in the way of my mission tonight, and I decided it best if I brought her back with me." Battousai said flatly.
The older lady just shook her head, "Sure you did. I hope you realize the consequences of this action, Himura. I'll have a bath prepared for her in the morning." And with that she walked away. Battousai silently growled at the women, and headed up the stairs. He lay the girl on his futon and removed her Katana and wakizashi. He stopped and admired the swords. They were a matching set, and were both forged very well. The katana was lighter then a normal one, suggesting it was made specifically for her. The Scabbards where simply black in color and the ito (or the braid) was in dark blue and the menuki (or ornaments) were silver dragons. Battousai sat them on the side of the futon and went to the wall to lean agaist to rest.
/~~\
A/N
Ok there we go, the beginning. All right I will say right now Spelling and Grammar is not my strong part and I know there is problems in this chapter. Normally I would have my friend edit it then post, but I really just wanted to put this out to see if anyone likes the idea. But I will tell you a corrected chapter will be up latter this weekend. Sp please forgive me.
Next, I really never liked the idea of Tomoe, what can I say, I really I'm not a fan of hers and I always like it when Kaoru is able to kick some butt. And I am not trying to make this fallow the same timeline as it should go so I am going to mess with the RK history so understand that. For references I used this web site:
http://www.todokanai.net/battousai/index.html (The Battousai Shrine )
Disclamer- I don't own Rurouni Kenshin
-TigerWolf
EDITED SO BEAUTIFULLY AT 1:42 AM BY MAY-CHAN ^_^