I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Inuyasha. Although my alter ego says I do. We have long discussions about this. They usually end up with me beaten and broken on the floor and my alter ego laughing evilly. That is, until my alter ego realizes that it has just beaten itself up. Bwah, ha, ha, ha, hah! Sucker!

---------

Rurouni Inuyasha

----------

Chapter 5: Stained Red Sun

------

Once again, there was blood on his blade.

It was early morning in Kyoto. A fog gently swirled through streets and alleys, urged on by gentle breezes. Morning dew clung to the sakura blossoms, and a few birds had begun their song.

A slender figure, barely discernable, darted in and out through the mist, glimpses of red hair flying, and light flashed from the glint of a katana.

Red.

Red was the essence of who he was. Red was the color of the blood that pumped through his veins, the color of his hair, the color of the scar on his cheek, the color of the liquid that dripped from his sword. Red was the color of his soul.

Sometimes, Kenshin wondered. He wondered what his life would have been like if he had never agreed to become a shadow assassin. What would his life have been like if he had never joined the Ishinshishi, had never come to Kyoto. If he had never left his Shishou, had never even met Shishou. Who would he be if his family had never died? What would the world be like if he had never been born?

With this bloody blade of his, could he ever even make a difference?

At times like these it didn't seem so. All he seemed capable of doing was causing pain and grief. All he was, was a stain. A stain like the bloodstains he washed from his clothes; from his hands. A stain on the soul of the Ishinshishi. When this was all over…would they wash that stain out?

How odd to realize that he didn't even really care. Maybe he was even looking forward to it. Maybe that way…everything would be all right. Everything that he had done…would be all right. Erased. Like it had never happened. Like he…had never happened.

It was somehow comforting, to think that he would be taken care of. And then, he would be able to see Tomoe again, he would be able to follow her…. Oh, who was he kidding? He would never see Tomoe again; his soul was too stained for that; after his death he would go to hell, like he deserved….

When this was all over, if he survived, which seemed less and less likely; what was he going to do with himself? Shishou had made it clear that he would never take him back. Death seemed like the only answer. Death was the only answer fitting for someone whose only skill was dispensing death. But Tomoe had died for him. She had died so he could live. Could he really throw away that gift that she had given him? What had she expected him to do anyway? What use was he? What on earth could he do, besides kill? How was he supposed to make up for everything that he had done?

How?!

---------

Inuyasha woke up with a start. The kid! The kid was gone! He made a quick glance around the room. Sure enough, the kid's swords were gone as well. Inuyasha struck the floor angrily. Damn it! Damn that kid!

"What did you expect from Kagome's reincarnation, you moron?" his more rational side asked him.

"Oh, shut up," he told himself. That was one thing about living by yourself for so long, you began insulting yourself, and having nasty arguments that sometimes ended in blood. That's why many doctors prescribe human contact. Otherwise, you can just get…weird.

Inuyasha grabbed his hat and left the room, intent on finding Kenshin. He was wary about it though, there were reasons he never went outside during the day, but this was an emergency; he had no choice.

"That stupid kid!" Inuyasha thought when he found bloodstains on the stairs. What the hell did he think he was doing, going out with such wounds?!

Inuyasha left the inn and rounded the corner, following Kenshin's scent, only to sigh in relief when he saw the kid walking towards him, seemingly unhurt.

"You moron! Where were you?" Inuyasha blurted, rushing over to Kenshin. The kid calmly looked up at him, undisturbed.

"Inuyasha san, I did not expect you to be up so early."

"Don't change the subject!"

Inuyasha grabbed for Kenshin's hand angrily. Kenshin swiftly tucked both hands up into his sleeves, and kept on walking calmly back to the inn.

"There was something I needed to do."

Inuyasha pointedly looked at Kenshin's gi, where a dark spot was slowly growing.

"You're bleeding."

At those words Kenshin paled, but quickly regained his composure.

"It was important. I couldn't wait."

They reached the inn and Inuyasha noticed that Kenshin had glanced around before going in, silently searching for enemies.

At the stair, Kenshin had faltered, his incredible will and control over his body failing once he was invisible from prying eyes. Without a word, Inuyasha swept the boy up into his arms, carrying him to his room. Once inside, he unceremoniously deposited Kenshin onto his futon.

"You need to rest."

Kenshin nodded as he pulled his swords from his belt. Inuyasha grabbed some spare bandages and tossed them to him.

What a stupid, stupid kid. Inuyasha smiled slightly despite himself. Stubborn, just like Kagome had been. He plopped himself down in his standard spot against the wall and watched as the kid gingerly tried to rewrap his wounds. How the hell had he been able to use his sword with that hole in his shoulder? How could he even think of fighting two days after having been stabbed in the chest? Stupid, stupid kid.

Of course, now that he thought about it, hadn't Inuyasha himself done that many times? Fighting fights when he was grievously wounded, always pushing himself so hard. But it had been different for him, that was what he had had to do to survive. In a world where humans shunned you for being a demon, and demons hated you for your human mother, you had to put on a strong front. Show no weaknesses. That was the only rule he had lived by for many years. It had been a different world then.

But as he watched the kid try to bandage painful looking wounds without so much as a flinch, as he saw the small, but many paper thin scars covering the boy's torso; Inuyasha realized that he had been seeing the situation from the point of view of an outsider, the point of view of someone who wasn't involved. He didn't care too much about the civil war that was going on, ultimately, it wouldn't effect him. It was a human affair, and while he was half human, the demon part of him wanted none of it. Governments had never made much sense to him, he didn't understand why people couldn't just be allowed to live their own lives the way they wanted to. Why should all these rules be placed upon them? It just didn't seem logical that one small group of people would rule over so many others. It all just seemed like a petty power struggle; or, perhaps humans were more territorial than he had previously thought? Even so, it seemed like a silly reason to kill each other over.

"And somehow this kid, this innocent, has gotten thrown right into the middle of it," Inuyasha thought as he watched Kenshin who had finally managed to bandage his stomach and had now moved onto one of his shoulders. At that moment, Inuyasha wasn't really too sure he liked the charismatic Katsura he had met the night before. What kind of man would send someone like Kenshin out to mercilessly kill night after night? What kind of man could watch an innocent soul slowly die from the demands made upon it?

No, not dying. Kenshin's soul was not dying. He was made of tougher stuff than that. His soul was only hardening; hardening into a thick protective shield to protect the truer bits of Kenshin's nature, and allowing him to become the killer he needed to be. That was what Inuyasha had seen that night, that was what he had glimpsed this morning; the battling of two separate natures within one mind.

Kenshin needed to survive this war so that he could live peacefully, so he could repair the damage done to him. He needed a chance to be a real person; not a shadow, not a legend. And Inuyasha would do everything within his power make sure that he did. He would protect Kenshin to the last, like he had with Kagome…like he couldn't with Kagome.

Kenshin would be his atonement. Perhaps if Inuyasha saved him, he could be forgiven for letting Kagome and the others die.

Inuyasha looked over at Kenshin.

"Oi, kid. You need some help with that?" he asked, referring to the sloppy bandaging job Kenshin had performed.

Forgiven.

-----

Tomorrow. He would leave tomorrow.

It was late afternoon; the second afternoon Kenshin had been here. It was too long. He had to get out of here. Everything he touched….

Tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow. By then he would be able to make it back to his own inn. He could explain to Okami about his injuries and she would keep them a secret for him. Everything would be fine. Everything was fine. He had taken care of…them. It was no longer a problem. Now, all he needed was some time to recuperate, to get himself back up to speed. Hopefully, there wouldn't be any secret meetings for a while.

It made him nervous. He didn't like being injured, it was too risky. It was too easy for your enemies to take advantage of your weakness; too easy for them to take away everything you've worked for.

Kenshin shook his head. What had he been thinking that night? Just giving himself up to die so easily. He needed to live so he could protect Katsura; the other bodyguards could not do it on their own, they needed him. It wasn't pride that made him think this. It was the truth, he was needed; and while he was needed, he had to survive.

When had he gotten so stupid? Of course, according to his Shishou he had always been stupid. But as of late he had been stupider than usual.

"Why do you always take such risks!" Kazuo's words came floating back to him.

Always…. To Kazuo he had always been that way. A risk-taker. Since before he had met Kazuo, he had been putting himself in more and more dangerous situations…. The answer had been in front of him the whole time.

"I want to die."

Across the room he noticed Inuyasha's ears poke up. So he was awake. Kenshin idly wondered how on earth he had been able to sneak out that morning.

"Why?"

Kenshin shrugged. "I just do."

Inuyasha didn't move. "Where were you this morning?"

"I told you, I had something I needed to do."

"I smelled those ninjas from the other night on you."

Kenshin stiffened. He had forgotten, Inuyasha was half 'dog' demon.

Inuyasha nodded. "I thought so."

Inwardly Kenshin bristled, although he allowed none of it to show on his face. Then he smirked, remembering something.

"What did you mean by 'You Ishinshishi people are really high strung'?" (This part is dedicated to my reviewer Abby who wanted me to elaborate on Inuyasha's comment. I love you guys!)

Inuyasha regarded him with a quizzical look on his face. "Huh?"

"You said that last night."

Inuyasha thought for a moment.

"Oh," he said remembering. "It was actually kind of funny. This kid just attacked me when I asked to see Katsura. He said something like, 'you will treat Katsura san with more respect, you gaijin!' Then he pulled out his sword and started making all these wild swings at me. That kid had no class." Inuyasha scratched his head. "I'm not exactly sure what the big deal was." He shrugged. "High strung, like I said."

Kenshin chuckled a little bit. "Did you catch his name?"

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, Katsura came and broke us up. He called the kid something like 'Kalumako.'"

Kenshin nodded. "I thought that sounded like Kazuo. He thinks that Katsura should be treated like a kami. He even gets on my case about it."

Inuyasha snorted. "That kid needs to get a life."

Kenshin smirked just a little. "You have to admit though, it would be a bit odd for a stranger to randomly show up asking for Katsura when no one but those on a 'need to know' basis even know where he is."

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, I know. That's why I mentioned your name as soon as I saw Katsura. He just figured that I found out where he is from you."

Kenshin regarded Inuyasha more seriously. "How did you find him? I never told you where he is."

Inuyasha tapped his nose. "I smelled him on your clothes. And I smelled some others too. I figured that they'd all probably go to the same place, so I just found the scent again and followed it." He shrugged. "It was easy."

Kenshin chuckled a bit. "It's a good thing that the Wolves of Mibu don't have as good of noses as you do, or we'd have been wiped out a long time ago."

Inuyasha looked puzzled. "Why would they have noses as good as mine? They're just humans."

"They're the 'Wolves' of Mibu? Wolves?" Noting Inuyasha's still puzzled look, Kenshin just gave up. "Never mind."

Inuyasha just shrugged. "Well, I'm kinda hungry. You want anything?" he asked Kenshin, moving towards the door to the room. Kenshin shook his head.

"Keh, no wonder you're so skinny, you never eat anything," Inuyasha remarked as he walked out the door to go get the food.

Kenshin stonily looked down at his lap. The thought of food made him nauseous. Was it really his fault that everything tended to taste like blood?

Yes.

He sighed, and laid back down, staring at the ceiling. Eventually he began to see pictures in the circles in the wood. Ah, there was a flower, a cat, oh, and that one looked like a book. It had been a long time since he had read a book. Maybe he should read one again soon. What was that Shishou used to say about books? Useless rubbish that is utterly priceless. Or something like that, it hadn't made much sense to him when his Shishou had first said it, but now when he thought about it he understood it somewhat. A book, something made of ink and wood. Flimsy, its only practical use was for firewood. Essentially useless. What made a book priceless was the thought that went into it, the soul of whomever had written it. It had always amazed him that his rough, uncouth Shishou, could say and think about such things. Of course he was a hermit that had been living on his own for a long time, with nothing better to do than practice his swordsmanship and think.

Hmmm…that one sort of looked like the blade of a knife. Or the blade of a katana….

~Blood ran down his katana, dripping into the snow. The spot of blood grew with each drip. Drip, drip, drip. A circle of red against white. The sun. The blood red sun.~

Oh, and that one looked like a face, a smiling face. A kind face. How many of those had he seen lately?

~Drip, drip, drip. A vague memory of stumbling down an alley, blood dripping from his clothes. His blood? No, someone else's. A woman looking outside her window caught sight of him. A witness.

"Young man!" She called from the doorway. Kenshin stopped, subtly reaching for his blade.

"Are you all right?"

No…what? Oh, the blood. She thought it was his blood. Silly woman, the hitokiri battousai does not bleed. Demons don't bleed.

He nodded to her, smiling briefly to reassure her before trudging on. She must have seen something in his smile, in his eyes, because she retreated quickly back through the door.

He probably should kill her.

No, not tonight, no more tonight.

It was his third assignment that week.~

----------

Inuyasha missed meat. He hadn't had it in a while, these humans tended not to eat it or serve it anywhere. The last time he had eaten meat was a couple of days before he had come to Kyoto. He had caught a rabbit, and now, just thinking about it made him salivate.

Nice, juicy, red meat, roasting over an open fire. Or raw was good sometimes, too. Inuyasha licked his lips. Yeah, the soup that he had just eaten a while ago had nothing on meat. Poor Kenshin, the kid had probably never eaten meat; probably didn't even know what he was missing.

Oh, well, soup was probably better for the kid in his current situation anyway.

Inuyasha entered his inn, easily balancing a pot of soup in one hand as he made his way up the stairs. He had gotten the pot of soup from a kind woman who lived just down the block. He had met her his first night in town, and he had gone out of his way to ingratiate himself to her; somehow women seemed to like you better when you were nice to them, imagine that! It was always a good thing to have a couple of friends around. You never knew when you might need them. And her cooking had definitely come in handy. Inuyasha had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't be the best thing to take the kid out to eat at this point in time; what with common knowledge of the battousai's physical description floating around, and the fact that the kid was still severely injured. And the fact that the kid had reopened his wounds this morning when he had decided to go out for a jaunt.

What a moron.

"Oi, baka," Inuyasha opened the door to their room. "I've got food for ya."

There was no response.

"Hmmmm?" Inuyasha inquired as he set down the food and took off his hat.

"You asleep or something?" He glanced around the room, finding Kenshin fast asleep on his futon. Thank God, he wasn't gone. Inuyasha didn't know if he could handle that again.

"Well, at least he's getting some rest," Inuyasha thought to himself as he watched the boy sleep. "Another couple of days, and he should be out of here." Inuyasha smirked. "The runt heals pretty fast for a human."

Inuyasha walked to the window to watch the fading red sun set. It was strange, but for some reason he felt like he was forgetting something.

Hmmm…no moon tonight.

….

Oh, shit.

---------------------------

A/N:
~Inuyasha is an anarchist! Yay! A nice contrast to Kenshin who is a…communist, I guess. Oh, I get it! Red Kenshin! Ha ha ha, Watsuki san is a funny man.
~Actually I got the red thingy at the beginning from another story: Kendo no go by Akai Kitsune. I read it about a week ago, and I've had that red symbolism stuff running through my head ever since.
~Stay tuned next week for another exciting chapter of Rurouni Inuyasha! Chapter 6: Interlude II: Kenshin.

---Green the bean