Crimson String Book II: A Rurouni's Path

by XenoMark

She chose her path in life, and she will not regret it... plz r+r, no flames

3. When the Sword Means Nothing

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait in updating, I was waiting for my co-author for "When Angels Lost Their Wings" to get her computer fixed so we can update that and this fic at the same time. Well, unfortunately, her computer's not fixed yet so I had to update both fics without her, but I got her permission to do so first. Anyway, this chapter is pretty slow, but I swear, I'll make it up to you with the next one, it has a lot more action in it and is more exciting. I'll update both fics within two weeks, finals are coming up soon so I need to study.

Chapter 2: When the Sword Means Nothing

Clang! The sound of metal striking against one another, it was always common since that day I left the farm when I was fourteen. The feel of the rough material of my sword clasped within my fingers no longer burns just as its weight no longer pulls my arms.

I turn to my opponent once more; my breath heavy, clothes tattered, and my body soaked in sweat and blood. My enemy is in the same condition as I am; the both of us seemed like we would fall at any moment. I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to fall, so I tightened the hold on my sword once more. My feet began shifting against the ground once more, each of them leaving their mark into the mossy surface. The metal curve in my hands began to sweep downward, stopping only after it struck the wind a mere second ago. It was halfway toward the ground, my opponent must've now been several feet away now. I could hear the sound of her fingers tightening, a small click echoed from her spear.

"Akai Chi Ryu, Guren Bara!" she screamed.

Her speed was faster than ever before; both of her blades were coming down from an angle. The grass and dirt below her feet suddenly shot forward in an instant, tainting my clothing in it's contents. There was only one attack that came into mind that could counter this, it would be my only hope for surviving.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, Kuza-Ryu-Sen!"

The grass before my feet suddenly flashed backward, followed with a cloud of dust. My body felt as if it were flying for that mere second; I practically felt my face being sliced up by the wind as I ran. My sword was pointed forward with my arms extended and my elbows locked in a small angle. The blade of my sakabatou was practically an inch before my enemy's body before my arms began to move again. Three, three, and three, nine strikes in total, all done in a split second. Within the split second, I had not heard one thud but nine rings. My feet and hers suddenly came to stop after I realized I had missed each of the nine targets, my reverse-blade locked in angle with her weapon. I began pressing all my weight into my weapon as she began to do the same. My teeth began grinding against one another as my eyes narrowed; she had done the same. Neither of us were moving, it was obvious that both of us had tied in this contest of strength. A smile suddenly stretched across her face a second later, and then it happened. Her body suddenly shifted from its current position but her weapon had remained in place. Before I could realize what was going on, I suddenly found my opponent's arms aligned with my own and a body pressed against mine. The spear before me suddenly pushed forward, just inches before my neck, held in place with the raise of my arms thus using my sakabatou's hilt to shield my neck.

"It didn't have to turn out like this," she whispered into my ear. "We used to be such best friends you know."

Not a word came from my mouth as a response. I had to concentrate on keeping myself alive at that moment, not what I was supposed to say.

"We could've been something, Mina," she continued, "we could've taken this country for ourselves, taken it from the Tokugawa Shogunate, taken it from the Meiji Government, and most of all, taken it from the people."

"Shion...," my opponent's name barely escaped my lips.

That is when I woke up. My entire body was drenched with sweat and my heart beating against my chest. My mouth had become dry with the events that had just transpired in my slumber, something about it just wasn't right.

'Shion?' I recalled some memories of my best friend. 'Why were we fighting? Could it be that you're still possibly working for the Ishin Shishi? No..., it can't be, you just said... What was... No, just forget it, Mina,' I told myself, 'it's just a stupid dream, nothing else.'

It had been about a month since I left Kyoto, the date of my story now is February 14, Western Year 1868. This day was a very important one, not because of my dream, but because of someone I met that day, someone that would forever change my life.

'I tired myself out so much that I fell asleep,' I realized once I turned to my reverse-blade sword that lay just inches away from my hand. 'I must be pretty lucky to have fallen asleep in a forest and not get robbed. Kuza-Ryu-Sen,' my thought began to linger to the technique I used in my dream, 'since when did I learn that? Oh well, who cares, it just a dream, Mina. Just a dream...'

That's what I usually did when I was traveling, I trained. Shinta said that if I wanted to become stronger than him that I should be strong in my own way, and well, that's what I was doing, or at least what I wanted to do. Up to that point in my journey all I could practice were the skills that my brother had taught me, and maybe my Left-Handed Battoujutsu, but a majority of it was stuff I had not learned from anyone else but Shinta. At that point in my journey, I began questioning myself, questioning why I was traveling across the whole country. I would always tell myself that it was to find my brother, but my mind always lingered on the thought that I could probably just stay in one location and he'll wander over there eventually. I never did like that thought, just thinking about settling down in a city or small village working as a waitress, or to some lower extent, a prostitute, made me shiver. If I was going to settle down it would be with the man I love so we could start a family, I didn't want to live alone much less support myself.

'I must've been out for about an hour,' I turned to the sun to find it a few inches to the side where it was last.

My ears suddenly picked up the sound of shuffling a second later. The shuffling soon evolved into the sound of screams, followed by the crashing of feet. The rings of metal came into hearing in the next instant, along with the piercing of flesh.

'An ambush?' I quickly lifted my sword from it's place, my feet and ears guiding me to the source of the attack.

I shuffled through the forest as quickly as I could, my right arm pushing away every branch and bush I came across. With every step I took, the louder the screams and screeches became. Nothing but green and brown surrounded my eyes until I suddenly passed a stump soaked in red. My feet stopped for a moment so my eyes could get a view of the area; the body of a young man and a shattered sword lay only inches away from the stump. Out of instinct I ran to the young man, kneeling toward him to get a better glimpse of his condition.

"Hey, are you all right? I asked him.

I began to turn to the source of his wound, it was undoubtably on his gut; there was no way I could have saved the young man.

"My aunt and uncle...," he muttered, "my parents, cousins, and sisters... they're up ahead, please save them."

"All right," I nodded, "I'll save them. You can rest assured that I won't allow another member of your family to die."

"Arigatou...," he said before falling silent.

Without wasting another moment I began running toward the source of the chaos once more. Finally I came into a clearing, or what was supposed to be a clearing. Bodies of men and women were strewn across the path, the grass and trees painted with the ruby elixir of life. Slabs of metal were strewn across the floor and forestry, some rusted while others broken. A splash of crimson suddenly fell before my eyes a second later, another one of that man's family had been slaughtered before my eyes.

"Shit!" I cursed.

Bandits, the typical scum I encountered when I was wandering, how I hate them. Why can't these people just live decent lives like normal people? It didn't really matter what I thought at the moment, I had to prevent even more lives from being lost.

"Another one?!" one of the men readied his sword.

"Hold on, I'm not a bandit," I assured the man, "let me help you."

"Who the hell are you?!" the bandits' attention soon turned toward me.

My eyes narrowed at the sound of one of their voices. Without hesitation, I quickly freed my reverse-blade from it's oak restraint. The metal slab met with one of their faces, striking him between his eyes and sending him to the ground in the blink of an eye.

"Normally I would warn you about myself attacking," I responded, "but I'll make an exception this time. I won't show any of you any mercy, that I won't!"

My feet quickly sprang me forward once more, the metal slab held in my hand leading the way once more. Another thud fell upon my blade a second later, just as the sound metal slicing downward came from behind. In an instant I pulled my sheath out of my belt, catching several blades in the process. With a quick turn of my body, the blunt edge of my sword met with each of their torsos. My head veered to the sidelines for an instant just in time to find the family fleeing from the scene. Some of the bandits began chasing them soon after, and I tried to continue my pursuit only to be cut off by more of the thieves.

"Get out of my way!" I ordered.

Another flash of steel began to cover my vision once more. Blinded by the reflection of the sunlight's, I quickly stepped back. The steel slab barely missed me, it's edge now locked into the ground. With a rise of my arm, I struck the back of my blade with the one just an inch from my foot. A loud crash filled the area as one half of the curve flew into the air.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, Ryu-Kan-Sen!" I screamed, turning my body in a full circle using the force of my reverse-blade's swing.

Thump, thump, thump, one by one each of the individuals fell like gnats. All of them were still alive, but unconscious. I looked to my sakabatou once the deed was done, not a sliver of crimson had been stained upon it. It was just as I wanted. My sight soon turned back to where the family and the other bandits ran and again, I found my feet pushing me in that direction once more.

Ting, clang! The sounds were growing closer and closer with every step I took. Screeches of women and children grew clearer and clearer, all I could do at the moment was pray that I would get there on time. I found them all again, engaged in combat. Bodies were once again strewn across the ground, each of them soaking in a puddle of their own life. The sight of blood never brought out the best in me, just the smell of it made me sick to my stomach and made my blood boil.

"You're still alive?!" was the greeting I received from several of the bandits.

"It's punks like you that make me want to break my oath!" I yelled as I pushed my blade forward once more.

A loud crunch escaped one of the bandits' noses as I engraved the blunt edge of weapon into it. The winds began to swirl from the east and west at the same moment after, just as the shimmer of metal entered my vision yet again. Instantaneously I swung my arms to my sides causing my reverse-blade sword and it's sheath to strike both of my attackers. The two feel almost immediately and I turned my sights back to the family who were now huddling in a corner of the forest. There were only three of them now, a middle-aged man along with a boy that looked no older than twelve, both of them with a katana in hand and shielding a woman behind them.

"Give it up, Shizaku!" I overheard one of the bandits order the middle-aged man. "There's no way you can win!"

"Che, Hyoma hired you, didn't he?" the middle-aged man spat. "That traitor, selling out to the Meiji just for a position in the government."

"I could care less what quarrels you have with our boss," one of the bandits told the man, "just surrender now and I can assure you that you and the rest of your family will have a painless death."

"Dad...," the young boy next to the man looked to his father.

"Get out of here, Yuzuki," the man ordered the boy. "Take your mother out of here and head to the nearest town, is that understood?"

"But..."

"Don't worry, son," I called to the boy, "I'll make sure your dad won't die."

"You again?!" the bandits' attention turned toward me once more.

"Go on, get out of here!" the man ordered his family once again.

"You're not going anywhere!" one thief returned their attention to the fleeing family.

The bandit quickly unsheathed the sword on his belt, quickly sending it in the direction of the woman and child. There was definitely no time to react at that point, I could not defend the family from what happened next.

"Kazuya!" the woman screamed as the blade met with his spine.

"Son of a bitch!" I screamed as I charged toward the masses of bandits once more.

As soon as they were within range, I swung my blade down from an angle, striking one bandit in the shoulder. With a quick twist of my wrist, the steel curve rose once more striking a second bandit. The creaking of metal fell upon my ears again as my arms came to a stop. Again my arm rose in an angle, striking down one of the bandits to the floor, but the problem was, my ears had deceived me, there was one more bandit coming from behind. I readied my blade once more preparing to take on the onslaught only to find a flash of steel suddenly emit from the center of his chest. As the body fell into the now ruby ground, the steel slab and the one holding it collapsed as well. It was the man who was trying to protect his family, the wound inflicted upon his spine must have taken it's toll on him now.

"Shizaku-dono!" I ran to him, calling him by the name the bandits called him.

My arm barely caught his back, but his legs were already flat against the ground. A stream of crimson was flowing from his bow and lips, and his eyes were already shut.

"Who are you?" he asked in between coughs.

"A rurouni, sir," I answered, "my name is Hi...," I began to hesitate after realizing what commotion I may start if I said my name. "Mina," I answered a second later, "just Mina."

"Mina-san," he called my name, "may I ask you one favor?"

"Hai," I nodded.

"I'm not going to make it," he told me, "so I would like you to fulfill one simple request for me."

"What is it?"

"My family," he coughed, "make sure they're safe, at least one of them. Please... promise me you'll do this, promise me..."

"Don't worry, Shizaku-dono, I will," I assured him.

"I thank you," his voice began to go silent.

Just as I lowered the rest of his body to the ground, another scratch of metal entered my ears.

"What was...?" I turned to the source.

It was coming from the same direction where the rest of the Shizaku family ran. At the risk of being rude to the late Shizaku Kazuya, I left without another word. It was only within seconds I found the young boy and his mother once again surrounded by bandits. This time the boy was the only one shielding the woman, the sword in his quivering as he held it. I could see every drop of sweat that was pouring down his brow, I could practically hear his teeth grinding against each other, it was obvious that this boy was frightened, and I was the only one who could possibly save them.

"Yuzuki, don't!" the boy's mother ordered.

"I have to, Mom," the boy ignored her orders. "Dad's got his own problems and..."

"Your father will be here soon, just run!"

"I can't leave you here, Mother!" he yelled. "Not when..."

"How sickeningly sweet," one of the bandits began to approach the two.

The boy took a step back for a moment, only to spring forward in the next. The bandit before him simply stepped to the side and struck the hilt of his sword against his back.

"Yuzuki!" his mother screamed.

"You got guts, you know that kid!" the bandits began to surround the boy.

"That's enough!" I screamed not wanting to see anymore violence.

"Why can't this chick just die?!" the bandits turned their attention toward me once more.

"Wait a second," one of them stopped the others. "Red hair, cross-shaped scar over the left eye, it can't be..."

"What is it?" one of the bandits asked.

"I heard about this bitch during the war," the bandit began to explain, "she was one of the top assassins for the Ishin Shishi. They say that she never spared a single man, whether it was enemy or ally, she'd kill them all without hesitation. There were only two men said to have survived her attacks, and they were Saito Hajime and Okita Soushi of the Shinsengumi. This chick is the one they called Hitokiri Kensai!"

"Hitokiri Kensai?!" a shocked look suddenly fell upon everyone within the vicinity.

I never did like that name, and I never did like the hard truth of who I was during the Revolution, but that didn't matter at the moment, all that mattered was what was going on at that time.

"I do not go by that name any longer," I told the man calmly, "I am simply a rurouni, that I am, I have no wish to kill any of you. I do, however, wish to beat every last one of you to the ground after attacking this defenseless family, that I do!"

Again I charged into the fray without thinking, jumping in blindly having my sakabatou doing all the work. Not wasting a single moment or anything, my reverse-blade swung in every direction, swinging in each one at least ten times. I didn't care who or what I struck, I let my anger take a hold of me, just as I did not too long ago. Before I knew it, I was standing before a pile of unconscious bandits but not a drop of blood spilling from any of them. It was then that I remembered about the Shizaku family. I turned back to where the boy and his mother were, both of them had disappeared.

'Did they escape?' I asked myself.

I began to step over the pile of bodies, slowly walking down the path before me looking for any traces of the boy and his mother. A flash of black came from part of the forest, it quickly disappeared into the greenery within the blink of an eye. Stepping out of the path I hurried over to where I thought I saw the flash of black. There was nothing. A crunch soon entered my ear the next second, it was only a corner away. I turned on the nearest tree, and sure enough, there was the boy's mother, huddled against the trunk.

"Miss...?" I began to approach her.

"No, don't come any closer!" she screamed.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I assured her, "I'm just here to help."

"Help me go to the Sanzu!" she yelled. "I heard what those men said about you, Hitokiri Kensai!"

"It's true that I was Hitokiri Kensai during the war," I admitted, "but I can swear to you on my parents' grave that I am no longer that mass murderer, that I am not."

"Really...?" she began to calm down.

"Hai," I nodded. "You're safe now, that you are."

"...arigatou," she thanked me, settling back down against the tree.

I hadn't noticed up until that moment, but her belly was rather swollen. It was an odd sight for me at the time, I don't think I had ever seen a woman in this kind of condition before.

"Nani?" she asked, probably noticing where my eyes were drifting.

"Your stomach," I pointed, "it's..."

"What, you've never seen a pregnant woman before?" she asked. "I see...," she said after a small moment of silence.

'I'm not going to get that fat when I have a kid, am I?' I thought to myself.

"Oh!"

"What is it?" I asked as her breathing suddenly became rapid.

"My water..., I think it broke!" she exclaimed.

'Oh shit!' I exclaimed in my head. 'What the hell am I supposed to do?' I began to panic. 'I haven't seen a pregnant woman up until now, and all of a sudden she's giving birth. I bet she's going to ask me for help, but I don't even know what the hell to do!'

"Hurry do something!" she ordered.

"Oh right...," I tried keeping my cool. "Breath, okay," I began ordering her, remembering how I played doctor with my mother when I was a child.

Her breathing became even more rapid with my order. As she did, I began recalling even more what I did when I was a child. My memory was pretty hazy at the time, I mean, how am I supposed to remember every little detail when I was playing doctor with my mother. But then I remembered one thing that could help me, the book that Shion gave me, 'Crimson String and the Four Destinies.' Remembering the page where the childbirth scene had taken place, I quickly turned toward it, quickly skimming the text for the doctor's directions.

"Push, all right," I read through the book, "push as hard as you can!"

'This shouldn't take too long,' I breathed a sigh of relief.

Boy was I wrong. Before I knew it, the sun was beginning to set and she was still pushing. I was getting close to panicking but I decided that I should try and keep my cool as long as I could.

'Oh man, oh man, I don't know how long I can do this!' I thought to myself.

Shizaku-dono was pretty tired by now, she look exhausted, no, more than exhausted. I was beginning to worry about what happened to her son, I mean, the one that tried to protect her. I was pretty sure that he escaped, that's all I could hope for at the moment.

"It looks like you have one more push to go," I told her, finding the baby almost out of her system, "come on, after this you can finally get some rest."

"Hai...," she said between her pants, "rest..."

Another gasp and another push, it was the final one. With that, a small creature had escaped from her form. Ten fingers and ten toes and a cry that nearly broke my eardrums, the child was healthy. It was a boy, I couldn't help but smile at the sight of the newborn child. Taking the sharpened edge of blade, I slit the cord that was connecting the child to his mother's womb. I took the baby into my arms and showed the child's face to his mother.

"It's a healthy little boy!" I exclaimed. "Shizaku-dono, you should be proud of yourself!"

Nothing but silence escaped the new mother's lips. Her eyes were shut and her body was frozen, it didn't shrug. The smile on my face began to melt, something was definitely wrong. My fingers slowly found their place to her neck, not a beat had escaped it.

"Shizaku-dono...?"

My face turned to the moss below my knees, my eyes practically melting to the floor.

'I failed,' I told myself. 'Shizaku Kazuya-dono, I failed you, haven't I? Gomen nesai, I... Your son, your wife, I couldn't...'

The cries of the child in my arms suddenly caught my attention once more. The tears escaping his eyes, he was just born and he was already grieving for his family, it was such a shame. I brought the child to my heart and held him tightly, my hand running down his back trying to calm him.

"Don't cry," I whispered into the child's ear, "please don't cry. If you cry then I'll start...," I shut my eyes a moment before a tear could escape.

"My family, make sure they're safe," Shizaku Kazuya-dono's voice began echoing in my head once more, "at least one of them. Please..."

"At least one...," I turned to the new life that was in my arms.

The child's cries began dying the moment my eyes met with his. His whines slowly became coos and his flailing arms came to a stop. I can remember clearly what I was thinking at that moment, I felt sad and at the same time, I was happy. Just hearing the baby's gurgles made my lips curl but made my eyes water. This child had no family left, and I doubt there would've been anyone in the next village that wanted to take responsibility for him. No, that's not true, I'm sure there would have been someone, but there's something about this child that attracted me to him, something about his chocolate brown eyes, his tiny button nose, his chubby little face, his presence in general.

"I'll keep you safe," I told the child, "I'll feed you, clothe you, bathe you, take care of you. I'll do all those things and so much more because I... I'll be...your mother and you... will be my son, that you will."

I nestled the child against my heart once more as I took one last look at the boy's real mother. If only I had known what I was doing, I'm sure she would've survived. Yet, if she did survive, I would never have been able to live through this great experience, I can't imagine my life in any other way. Holding the young child reminded me of my mother, how she would always hold me like this when I was a child. We would be sitting by the fire cradling my head against her heart as I sat in her lap. She would sing me a lullaby as she rocked me, ever so slowly and gently until I fell asleep. Her heart was always so warm, I can remember counting each beat until I fell asleep. But Mother was gone now, I can no longer lean on her if I was feeling down. It was my turn now to be the mother, and my child would be that boy that was against my heart.

I took a few moments to cradle the child, what I felt when I rocked him is so indescribable. Such happiness and joy, those words aren't even close to half of how I felt as I rocked my son. My son, he's all grown up now, I just wish I can cradle him in my arms once more, I wish that... No, I'm getting ahead of myself here...

When he finally fell asleep, I returned to the clearing where the child's father was lid to rest. The unconscious masses that murdered his parents were gone now, they must've made their escape when Shizaku-dono went into labor. All that was left was a broken wagon and the bodies of his family.

"Forgive me for doing so," I apologized as I began rummaging through the wagon's contents.

What I found in the carriage wasn't much. There were a few rations and some tools, along with a few swords, but really caught my eye were some baby supplies. I guess the family was expecting Shizaku-dono to give birth soon. There was a rather odd thermos that had a nub at one end and a small hole at the tip, I was sure this is what was supposed to be used to feed the baby. There were some really small-sized clothes, some bigger than others. The smallest kimono was able to fit on my child, the others were probably supposed to be for when he grew a little bigger. I found a basket with strap on it and two large holes at the bottom, it was a backpack of some sort which I could use if I wanted to carry the child on my back. The rest of the stuff wasn't really anything useful, but there was this piece of paper stacked underneath all of the items.

"Ryosuke?" I read the inscription on the paper.

The family had already chosen a name for their child, it was obvious when I read this paper. They already had a notification letter for the Shinto shrine, all they really needed to do was go to a shrine and have the child blessed by the priest. I took the paper into my pocket and turned to my child once more.

"Ryosuke," I practiced his name on lips once more, "your name is Shizaku Ryosuke."

The child gurgled once more when I called his name. Shizaku Ryosuke, he was my first child and now my most faithful follower. It's not fair to call him my follower, he's my son. There I go again getting ahead of myself, I don't know why I've been doing this.

We left the forest soon after, but not after looking around the area for an hour in search of his elder brother. There was not a trace of him, I was sure that he probably escaped to the nearest village. I was wrong.

It was already dark when we had entered the village, there was barely anyone out. I asked the remaining few if they had seen Ryosuke's brother. Not one had seen the boy, it was then that I started to get worried. It was late, so decided to stay at the closest inn for the evening, besides, I don't think it would've been a good idea to go camping while taking care of a baby. We had gotten a rather small room that was only big enough to fit one futon and a table. I had no choice but share my bed with Ryosuke, and I had to make sure that I didn't accidentally roll on top of him in my sleep. I was so tired that evening, I thought I could just succumb to slumber in a second, damn was I wrong.

"WAAAHHHHH!" was the sound I woke up a minute only after the darkness had enveloped my eyes.

"Oh man...," I grumbled. "There, there,' it's okay," I tried cooing the baby as I wrapped him in my arms.

The wailing only seemed to grow louder as I continued rocking him. He seemed deaf to my voice as it didn't seem to be doing anything for him. I thought my eardrums were about to burst if he continued. He was quiet on our trip over to the village, and now all of a sudden he's louder than Kyoto during Ganjitsu.

"Is there a problem here?" the inn keeper knocked on my door as my eardrums were about to burst.

"I can't make my baby keep quiet," I answered.

"Let me see the child," the inn keeper entered our room.

What she did next surprised, like she knew exactly what to do. She took a thermos similar to the one I found out of her kimono and quickly placed it in the child's mouth. The wailing slowly died as she began feeding him. The smile of his began stretching across his face once more and his coos took the place of his wails.

"There, that should keep him silent for another hour or two," the inn keeper said as she handed the child back to me.

"Another hour or two?" I said puzzled.

"You're new at this, aren't you?" the inn keeper asked. "Trust me on this, you won't be getting any sleep in a long time."

"Great...," I mumbled.

"No one taught you anything when you had this child, right?" the inn keeper asked.

"Well... no actually," I answered.

"And I'm presuming he boy's father ran out on you, is that correct?" she added.

"Are you kidding me?!" I retorted. "I'm only sixteen, there's no way I can have a child at my age! Besides, I only adopted the child today after his parents..."

"I see. I guess you'll have to learn the hard way," she said as she returned Ryosuke into my arms.

She left soon after that, taking the thermos with her. I never thought that raising a child would be so difficult until then; I thought I had gone through the hardest part of the parental phase after she had calmed my baby, but unfortunately, this was only the beginning.

The next time I woke up must've been about two minutes later, this time it was a foul odor that awoke me.

"Oh God dammit!" I cussed when I realized where the smell was coming from.

I took Ryosuke to the bath house a second later, laying him in a corner as I washed his clothing. Washing human waste out of a kimono is not fun at all, I was wishing that the child could just hurry up and grow up at the moment. Washing the child was easier luckily, but he tended to splash around quite a bit in the pool. As soon as I finished with my duties, I dressed Ryosuke up once more and headed back to the room. It wasn't even an hour later when he began crying again. I went down to the kitchen this time and filled the thermos with milk and then returned to my room to feed it to the child. Milk was going to be added to my tab, I had already spent about one fourth of my wallet already just to pay for the room and tomorrow's meal and now I had to pay an eighth to go with it. I thought he would be silent after that feeding, but I was wrong.

I must've only gotten five minutes of sleep that entire evening, my tab was now big enough to take up my whole wallet and maybe a bit more. I needed another part-time job already, it had only been about a day or two since I last worked. Luckily the inn keeper was looking for part-timers at the time, the pay was fairly decent. Three yen an hour, all I had to do was work in the kitchen. Luckily the inn keeper offered to take care of Ryosuke while I tended to the customers. In my condition at the time, I almost fell asleep at my post several times, but the customers' yelling would always wake me up. Night finally fell again and I had accumulated thirty six yen at the end of the day. The inn keeper was kind enough to let me stay at the inn for free for that night, though I would have to pay for food and milk.

I still couldn't get much sleep last night, but at least Ryosuke didn't wake me up as much during that evening, and I still had half my earnings after. I didn't want to work at the inn again for another day, so I decided that I should probably leave for the next village. I left the inn at noon, and Ryosuke was wailing again just as he did for the last two nights.

'I never knew being a parent could be so stressful,' I grumbled to myself as I carried the wailing child on my back. 'I wonder how Mom and Dad were able to deal with me? If I remember correctly, they were about my age when they had me.'

Ryosuke's cries were louder than ever, and the thermos was out of milk. I really wanted to just sew his lips together at the time, but of course, I didn't, it just wasn't right. My only solution to this problem was to find a dairy store of some sort, but I found something even better as I went through the village, a clinic.

'Maybe these guys'll have something,' I thought to myself as I entered the small building.

There weren't that many patients in the clinic luckily, and the nurses were kind enough to refill the milk thermos for free from their own supplies. It was great that I got a free refill, but God knows how long it would last. I was thinking that maybe the doctor could give me a longer lasting solution.

"Mina-san," one of the nurses called a few minutes later, "the doctor will see you know."

"All right," I said. "Come on, Ryosuke," I bundled the baby into my arms.

To my surprise, the village doctor was a woman. I never actually saw one up until this point, the doctors I went to as a child and during the Revolution were all men. Regardless, I'm sure she would be more understanding with my current situation and all.

"Take a seat," the doctor ordered as soon as I entered.

"Hai," I took the nearest stool.

"So what seems to be the problem?" she asked.

"It's my baby," I answered, and at that very second, he began crying once more. "He keeps getting hungry so fast; I've already spent most of my wallet just to feed the child."

"How old is he?" the doctor asked.

"Three days old," I answered, "can't I give him something to stop making him eat so much?"

"Ha ha ha, you're kidding, right?" the doctor laughed. "Oh, you're serious...," her tone changed a second later. "Well let me just ask you this, how often do you nurse the child?"

"Nurse?" I said puzzled. "I'm sorry, but I don't really know anything in the medical field so..."

"When I say nurse, I mean breast-feed," the doctor explained.

"Bre...breast-feed...?" my body began to scrunch together at the mention of the doctor's words.

"I don't mean to sound rude when I say this, but that's what they're for, right?" she asked.

Again my body began to cramp. I never really thought about that until that moment, it sounded rather embarrassing. I mean, breast-feeding, putting one of my most sensitive areas in another's mouth was just... oh man, I even have trouble thinking about it now. Just the thought of...well, you know, made me cringe. Besides, how was that supposed to help my current situation, I didn't have any... Let's just move on...

"Um, well, you see...," I tried to explain my situation.

"I think I understand you're situation," the doctor began heading to the medicine cabinet on the other side of the room. "Take these!" a small pouch fell into my palms a second later.

"What is this?" I opened the bag to find some pills inside.

"These will make you lactate," the doctor explained.

"La...lac...," my body began scrunching even further.

"Take one at least once everyday until you're able to produce your own milk after feeding him after a few weeks," the doctor ordered.

"Um...okay...," I slowly began to pocket the pouch and placing one pill into my mouth.

"They'll begin working an hour after you take them," the doctor continued.

"Um... thanks, I guess," I began to creep away.

"Wait!" the doctor called. "There's some other things you have to do."

'This can't get any worse!' my face must've been so red from embarrassment.

There were so many guidelines the doctor went through, just remembering them all makes me cringe. During her entire lecture, I couldn't help but stare at the floor, but I would be forced to look back up at the doctor if she noticed. My entire body felt like it had been in a furnace after I left the clinic, my skin was also tanned a bright red. I couldn't help but notice Ryosuke gurgling during the entire lecture and when we left the clinic, I'm sure he was mocking me.

'Shit, what have I gotten myself into?' I asked myself as I returned to my trip.

Ryosuke's cries once again interrupted my thoughts at that moment. We were almost out of town and he was already beginning to cry.

"Can you stop crying, please?" I sighed as I took the child into my arms. "Look, if you're hungry, you're going to have to wait another thirty minutes. Can't you be quiet until then?" I asked and he suddenly fell silent. "That's better."

There was one more stop we had to make before we could leave the village, and it was the local Shinto Shrine. With his family gone, I guess I had to be the one to tell his ancestors of their new descendent. It had been a while since I had gone to a shrine actually, I don't think I ever went one to pray ever since the Revolution began. Luckily there was one priest at the entrance, I wouldn't have to wait long to get my child blessed.

"A blessing?" he asked after I told him of my situation.

"Hai," I nodded, "I just thought I should inform his ancestors of their newest descendant."

"What is the child's name?" the priest began heading toward the shrine's bell.

"Shizaku Ryosuke," I handed him the piece of paper.

"Shizaku Ryosuke," he took the paper and hung it on the bell's rope.

The ceremony didn't take very long, a simple ring or two with the bell and then a quick prayer to his ancestors. After that, we were on the road. It had only been a few minutes of walking until his cries entered my ears again. He must've been psychic, half an hour had passed just like I told him when we left the clinic.

"I guess it's time then," I sighed.

My body began to grow limp as I slowly removed the child from his harness. I looked at him for a few moments and I could see my face glowing red from his tears. I nestled the child in my left arm and the fingers of my right began to take hold of the right side of my kimono. Shutting my eyes, I quickly tugged at the material, the air stinging my skin as it met with the wind. My right hand then drifted toward the back of my child's head, pushing toward the pink nub on my chest. Again I shut my eyes, waiting for what I thought would be a world of pain I never wanted to know. What followed next was quite a surprise. The cries had died and a soft pull came from one half of my chest. The pull was rather soothing, and the device that engulfed it was rather warm. Slowly, my eyes began to open, my right before my left. My eyes had turned to the small life nestled in my arms and chest, I couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"So this is what it's like to be a mother," I said as I began to run my fingers through what little hair my baby had.

We sat there for a few moments just relaxing. I never really appreciated the flow of the winds until that moment, everything was just very serene. The sucking suddenly came to a stop when the wind died, a smile had been perched on baby's face once again. Another smile stretched across my face as I gazed into my baby's face, but it slowly melted away as the winds returned. I covered the bare half of my body once again and began walking down the path once more.

"Ryosuke...," I whispered my child's name as I rocked him in my arms, "my Ryosuke..."

"That child is not your's!" a voice suddenly boomed.

"Nani?!" I quickly turned around to find several flashes of steel to appear before me.

It was the bandits from the other day. All of them black and bruised, but other than that, it didn't seem like they were hindered at all. I hugged my child tighter as more flashes of metal entered my vision. I soon found ourselves surrounded, each of the individuals holding some sort of weapon.

"Hand the child over, rurouni!" one of the bandits stepped up.

"Never!" I yelled as my grip on Ryosuke tightened.

"Do you know who this child is, woman?!" the bandit asked. "He is the sole survivor of the Shizaku family, one of the most powerful samurai families during the Shogunate's rule."

"He's the sole survivor only because of what you did to his family!" I retorted.

"His family should have just bowed down to the new government otherwise they wouldn't have met their fate."

"So you guys are working for the Meiji?!" I asked, my left hand drifting to the weapon on my belt.

"Far from it," the bandit answered. "Let's just say that we work for someone who works for the new regime."

"Someone named Hyoma, correct?" I asked.

"Hand the child over and we'll guarantee your life, Hitokiri Kensai!" the bandit ordered once more.

"I didn't earn the name Hitokiri Kensai for nothing, that I didn't," I informed the man. "All of you are nothing but ants to me compared to the men I fought during the war."

"Cocky bitch!" the man spat.

The man charged forward with his blade taking the lead. His actions were anticipated before he even made them. I waited for the man to come a bit more forward before I struck, my finger twitching as they hovered above my weapon's hilt. The moment his eyes met mine is when sprang forward. My right arm pulled my child closer to my body as my left removed my reverse-blade sword from it's oak restraint. A loud crash echoed the area and as a thud followed a split second after. I turned back to my opponent to find him holding half a katana in his hands and his body slowly dropping to the floor. My fingers tightened against my blade a moment after and suddenly flashes of metal came from all sides. They were all trying to box me in, but of course I wouldn't let that happen.

"Ready, Ryosuke?" I asked my child.

Each of the steel blades sprung forward in the same instant, each of their tips meeting with another of their comrades' swords. My feet had lifted me and Ryosuke into the heavens just a split second before any of their blades had touched, our heads were in the clouds for only a second until we began plummeting back down. I held my child closer with each inch that we dropped while switching the position of blade so that the hilt was now pointing toward the ground.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu!" I screamed, catching the attention of the bandits once more. "Ryu-Tsui!" I brought my blade down on the skull of the first man that came within range. "Shou-Sen!" I turned around, striking the next man I saw directly underneath the chin.

The two bandits fell quickly as the rest began to step away, lowering their weapons. A click suddenly echoed in my ears a moment later, there was still one more who wanted to play the role of the hero. I twisted my legs a moment after the click, turning my body with the twist. A glimpse of a curved piece of metal entered my vision as we spun, finding ourselves behind the man who tried to strike us.

"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, Ryu-Kan-Sen-Kagarashi!" I yelled as I brought the blunt end of my weapon to the back of the man's skull. "Tsumuji!" I continued spinning, striking another batch of bandits in the process. "Arashi!" my body began to flip forward, my left arm extended and my right still holding onto my child.

Another symphony of thumps and crunches echoes in my ears as I spiraled forward, ending only when my feet met with the ground once more. I turned back to where all the men once stood, all of them now piled on top of one another just as I had them stacked the other day. I turned to the small life cradled in my arm after, a small stretched across his lips as his hands clapped against one another. I turned to my sakabatou after, still not a drop of blood had tainted it.

"Come on, Ryosuke," I smiled at the child, sliding my weapon back into it's sheath at the same time, "let's go."

"Wait!" a muffled voice echoed in the pile of bodies.

My head quickly shot back to the mountain of bodies as my fingers once again took hold of my reverse-blade. One of the bodies began crawling out of the stack, pulling against the others just so he can stand. Even when he was on his feet, his legs were still wobbly, it looked like he was about to fall in any second.

"You may have defeated us," he coughed, "but our boss won't rest until that kid's dead!"

"Tell your boss he can go to hell!" I spat.

"Hell?" the man chuckled. "He has already visited the dark realm. In fact, he was born there."

"Nani?! What the hell are you talking about?!" I yelled, confused on the man's response.

"You know nothing about the Shizaku family and Hyoma-sama's background, do you?" the man asked. "I'm telling you, Kensai, this is something even a hitokiri of your caliber shouldn't be involved with. You should've minded your own business."

"Fuck you!" I spat again. "This is my business! I can't just stand around and let men like you have your way!"

"You'll regret taking that boy with you," the man began to laugh. "He is nothing but an omen that is too cruel for this world."

"What do you mean?!" I yelled at the man, only to have him fall back to the floor in the next second. "Bastard!" I ran back to him, pulling him up by taking a handful of his hair. "Just what the hell are you talking about?!"

Silence was my answer. I gave up at the very instant, tossing his face back into the road. I looked back the child, a smile still stretched across his face. I began pondering at that moment just what that man meant. The history of the Shizaku family and this man Hyoma, it had nothing to do with me, even if I was taking the newest child of the Shizaku family with me. At least that's what I thought at the time. My adoption of Ryosuke would later turn out to be an omen for many things, but at the same time, it was blessing for others.

"Come on, Ryosuke," I told the child, "we have a long way ahead of us, that we do."

Chapter 2 Liner Notes

What does "nani" mean?- "Nani" in Japanese means "what" in English. Pretty simple huh?

The origin of Shizaku Ryosuke- Well, we got a new character now for the "Crimson String Trilogy," and a very important one at that. Those who read "The Twin Dragon Arc" remember his role right? Well it will be even greater here as he grows up, and don't expect things to turn out the same way they did in "The Twin Dragon Arc." Events will be played out differently, such as Ryosuke's origin which we just read. Yes, we will see Ryosuke's brother again in this book, and this "Hyoma" character, but that won't be until much later on. Anyway, Ryosuke's family name is a tribute to two things. "Death" and "four" are the English translations of "Shi," while "zaku" is a tribute to some of the Zeon mecha found in the original Gundam series. The name "Ryosuke" is a tribute to two characters, "Ryu" of the Street Fighter video game series and "Kyosuke" of the Rival Schools video game series. His character is modeled after Yahiko later on, but with a touch of Kenshin. Basically he's got a lot of pride but he thinks things through before taking action. He's also not very quick-tempered as you'll see later on.

What's "Ganjitsu"?- Ganjitsu is Japanese for "New Year's Day." It's celebrated by decorating the home, sending greeting cards, and visiting friends.

Next time: "The ruby elixir of life is abundant on her, her yellow eyes strike fear into the eyes of any man or woman who passes her. She is the remaining cub of the Alpha Dog of the Mibu Wolves, her innocence stripped away not so long after her birth. The child reminds me so much of myself not to long ago, can I save her before she is too far from salvation...?" -Himura Mina

Author's Note: Well how was it? Sorry for it being slow and all, but I swear I'll make up for it in the next chapter. Anyway, go ahead and leave a review, but no flames or anything like that, okay. I guess that's it for now, check out "When Angels Lost Their Wings" if you can too, both this and that fic will cross paths in chapter five, so look out for it. Later people!