Disclaimer: *Throwing banners and streamers and balloons all over the place-all say* Star-chan does NOT own RK!* Oh… You mean I have to say it? Okay: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin *bows* thank you.
…He couldn't suppress that feeling in him that told him danger was coming. So he reluctantly made the trek back to the place of painful pasts…
A Second Chance:
Clouds gathered overhead, as Soujiro was revisited by the screams of his adoptive family. He could hear them as he entered the courtyard… the fear… the pain… the blood… the guilt. 'Why won't they ever leave me alone?!' he cried angrily in his mind. His face was distorted, reflecting the anguish within.
"ONICHAN! (BIG BROTHER!)" a painful voice rang out, breaking Soujiro's thoughts. Screams followed as loud as the ones in the past. The facts slowly registered in Soujiro's mind. It wasn't back then, it wasn't his foster family screaming… It was someone else… Aiteru…
"AUNT KAMITARIIIIIIIIIIII!" He heard the voice cry again as he rushed into the building. His face twisted into revulsion as he saw a man on top of the struggling girl. Tears flowed steadily down her flushed cheeks. Aiteru's blue kimono abandoned several feet away. Soujiro felt a deep anger grow inside of him, something he had not felt since his dual with the Battousai.
A storm grew menacingly as Soujiro unconsciously realized how this family abused Aiteru's innocence and efforts… just like the family before… who abused him…
Lightening flashed as everything fell silent. Aiteru's cries stopped as the attacker fell in two clean, neat halves on each side of her. Lightening flashed again, as Soujiro saw the fearful look in Aiteru's watery eyes. Two bright jewels like eyes set in a face splattered with blood… Lightening flashed for a third time as Soujiro saw himself standing in Aiteru's place. The very age he was when he made his first murder. His younger self looked at him with a smile and eyes that questioned, "Is this what you really want to do?"
Before the fourth lightening flashed, Soujiro was lost in his past, leaving his body in the present in an expression of cold blood, which fell to its knees. 'It was your chance to do the right thing…' the chibi-Soujiro said plainly, staring blankly. 'I couldn't… the anger… the fear…revenge…' eighteen-year old Soujiro pleaded. 'How do I know what the right thing is?!'
'You know what it was,' the child said apathetically. 'It was…'
"Nani? (What?)" Soujiro whispered, demanding the answer. But his past washed away… by the sobs of one little girl... one innocent, yet violated girl… Aiteru he slowly remembered. Before him, Aiteru's arms were wrapped around his body, as she wept bitterly into his chest.
"You're safe now," Soujiro smiled, which was the only thing he remembered how to do. Her tears continued to flow, to his consternation. He dropped the bloody blade and cradled her in a brotherly way. "You're safe now," he whispered again, resting his cheek on his hair.
Aiteru cried in his arms a few moments more, the tears slowly ebbing away. When she quieted, she turned so that her forehead rested at the base of his neck and her hand touched the front of his gi lightly. Without looking at him, she murmured, "I know. But I'm not weeping for myself. I'm used to this sort of thing…" Soujiro squeezed her closer, trying to convince her silently that life was not like this. That life shouldn't be this way. "I cry for you…" she whispered.
Author's Note(s): Um… I'm not sure this story fits into the general rating but I'm sorry if it doesn't… Gomen! Um… like I was hyper for the last few moments and I think I'm running low on sugar. Oh well, everything will be explained in due time… and it will happen unless I realize no one actually reads what I write. Anyway, bye-bye and thanks for reading! PS: Reviews are highly welcomed, praised, adored, and sought after!