All standard disclaimers apply. Rurouni Kenshin still doesn't belong to me.

*Lines with-in the stars (*) are thoughts.*

Shadow's return - Chapter 6: Regrets


He sits alone in the darkness of the shadows and the coming night. Today hadn't exactly gone as he had planned. In fact, nothing at all turned out very well. He lost an ancient Seishin relic and he quite possibly killed his only remaining friend. *No... Definitely not the best day I've ever had.*

Taiyoryu finds himself thinking back, as he often does lately, trying to find a reason for him to continue on. He thinks back through what happened to bring him to this point.

He grew up Akumu Minzoku. His ebony skin, glowing red eyes, and demonic appearance would eternally mark him as of the 'Nightmare Tribe'. As a youth, he had thought it a blessing, had thought it better than being born of a 'weaker' race. He trained as a warrior, as all males of the tribe would. Before his first year of training ended, he had no equals among the students. With-in another couple years, not even the masters could defeat him.

Not yet an adult, he joined the warriors of the tribe in raids of other Minzoku races. Unknown to his comrades, Taiyoryu also studied the mystic energies. He mastered these, too, at an early age, though his fellow Akumu Minzoku knew nothing of it.

It was during this training, though, that he started down this path he now travels. His research and training lead him to a secret shrine of a forbidden goddess. 'Ai de Nushen' was all she was known by, for to even say her name would result in a painful death. Instead of turning in the shrine, though, he let his curiosity take over. Over the next several months, he spoke with the caretaker of the shrine, learning of such foreign concepts as 'love', 'peace', 'honor', even 'friendship'. These were the worst form of heresy.

"The Goddess of Love." he says softly, fingering her symbol that he still wears, even after all these years. A small silver disc with an engraving of a full moon, thick, swirling hair wraps the moon, and a double-edged sword with it's tip raised to the heavens. "An odd symbol for a goddess of love." he had said many years ago, and he still finds it odd. It hangs from his neck from a thick leather cord and often rests with-in the dark leather pouch he had made to fit it. The symbol was too bright to properly fade into the shadows.

It was during those meetings that he became a traitor to his people. Knowing he could not stay with them, he set out to find the truth of life for himself. Over years of traveling, the only truth he learned was that his people were universally feared, often to the point of hysteria.

He did, eventually, manage to find a woman who loved him, in spite of his race. The wed and were married for a brief time before his people, once more, appeared in his life. During an Akumu Minzoku raid of the land they lived, his wife died horribly. With nothing holding him, he returned to wandering. This was no little step towards where he is now.

Eventually, his travels lead him to the employ of a queen. Not just any queen, 'THE' queen of the Minzoku, or, rather, most of them. Those who walk the light happily follow this lady they call 'the sad queen.' Of course, he had never been allowed to actually met her, and it was unknown if she even knew that he worked for her. This was to be expected, though. None fear the Akumu Minzoku more than the tribes who follow the ways of peace and love. If it were to be found that she was meeting with an Akumu Minzoku, it could end her reign. This was another major event that brought him here.

Years roll by as Taiyoryu Senshiyi works for the sad queen, retrieving lost or stolen artifacts that belong to her people. It was during one of these missions that he found a young Seishin Minzoku girl. The 'Spirit Tribe' has always held a special hatred for the Akumu Minzoku. They were popular targets for the nightmare tribe to raid, taking slaves for labor and pleasure.

As he wandered into a village, recently destroyed by an Akumu raid, Taiyoryu was surprised to find the little girl alive. She must have been out of the village when the actual raid happened. Though she fought him at first, he took her with him, naming her Yoake Noboru, Rising Dawn, after the morning sun that hung low in the sky at the time. It was also a symbolic name for him. He was really starting anew, trying to be a parent to this little girl that he didn't even know. As she grew, she became the meter against which he measured right and wrong. Her sense of justice was very strong, and he tended to take her opinion very seriously.

She trained in gung fu, kenjutsu, as it's called here, at his side. Eventually, she joined the Akuma Ryoshi, the demon hunters. Taiyoryu, well settled into the role of worried father, went along as well. It was then that he had met Tengoku Hitokara and Alli. Alli was half human, half Seishin, but she was all woman. They grew very close for a time, until their growing relationship began causing problems for her among the other Ryoshi.

He glances down to the katana at his side, given to him by that rare close friend. His mind runs back, unbidden, to the last time he saw her alive.

They had just followed Atarashiikami through his portal to a strange world that they never learned the name of. A major battle was being fought on the side they just left, but that didn't matter. Nothing they did would matter if Atarashiikami escaped. Casualties were heavy on both sides that day. Alli ran off after Atarashiikami. Taiyoryu was supposed to stay at her side, but was separated by the tide of battle. By the time he was able to get back to her, she was trapped inside a mystic shell with the demon-man. All of his power, and he couldn't dent the shell of energy. Atarashiikami knew this and took his time, killing Alli slowly, painfully. He went so far as to molest her still warm body after he finally killed her. Taiyoryu was, once more, left with nothing but a torn body of one he loved.

He gripped the katana at his side as he thought about the woman who gave it to him. Though he used it when fighting Shishio those many months ago, he could not bring himself to draw it for the confrontation with Tengoku. He had already betrayed too many trusts.

And so the battles went. By the time they managed to defeat Atarashiikami, only Tengoku and Taiyoryu were left of the Akuma Ryoshi. Yoake, his daughter, died at the battousai's side during the final confrontation.

*I will never forgive him for that.* he thinks. *It was his duty to protect her while she trapped the demon's energies.*

He shakes his head to clear the thought, to force himself to keep going. He had returned to his homeland with Tengoku. With little else left, he had thrown himself into his work. This led him directly here.

For the first time ever, he met directly with the sad queen. She told him of the history of the artifact that Atarashiikami had used to gain his power. Common knowledge leads people to believe that the Akumu Minzoku created it, as they have had it for as long as any could remember. Truth of the matter, though, was that it was created by the Seishin Minzoku. This made it his duty to retrieve it.

It didn't take long at all to get on it's trail, a couple days. Then, he happened across the battousai being attacked by Akumu Minzoku. He still isn't sure why he helped him. He 'said' it was only to keep the Akumu Minzoku from being one step closer to what ever goal they had, but that wasn't the whole of it.

*It's something Yoake would have done.* he realizes. She was annoyingly quick to forgive and even faster to help others.

As he continued his search, it was only the worst of luck that put him at that shrine the same time as Tengoku and the battousai. It was only the worst of luck that made him go against his friend.

*He shouldn't have gotten in our way. Those who get in our way, die.*

He shook his head once more, forcing that thought from his mind. That's the way the Akumu Minzoku think. That is what he has spent nearly his whole life trying not to be.

Even as he had fought Tengoku, the Akumu Minzoku had slipped in, with some fighting the battousai to keep him busy, and stolen the artifact from under them. Taiyoryu nearly panicked until he realized that it wasn't the whole artifact.

*It was just a source of power.* he thinks, remembering the only faint magic that emanated from it. *And a dangerously unstable one. There still has to be something to control it.*

*That's it.* he thinks. *Today has proven that I am no better than those I despise, those I have strove not to be. There is nothing left for me, save the corner of hell that awaits me.* He looks down to the sword in his hands. *But not yet. I gave my word to return the artifact to the Seishin, at any cost.*

The darkness now stretches on, the sun long since set, completely encompassing him. He couldn't help but think of how appropriate that is.