A man is in an empty field, surrounded by wild flowers all around him. His fire read hair is pulled back to avoid getting in his way. The scar that is on his face bleeds no more, but holds many hurts in it still. There are noises all around him, mainly of grasshoppers and crickets and the occasional bird. That doesn't matter to him at all though. The only sound that cares about is the sound his blade is making as it cuts through the air. Slice down, then up, then sideways and spin around to block an unseen blade. Then slash upward jumping into the air at the same moment. Come down and slash at the ground then land, knees bent kneeling very low, spin around in this position and…fall down.
That was the third time he had had the same thing happen to him. He began to stand up when a voice echoed inside of his head.
"You will never be able to do it." The man lowered his blade till it was touching the ground
"I do not need you to tell me anything right now. I will get this done."
"No you won't. Everything you have ever done has ended in failure. That is all you are, you know nothing else."
"That's enough! I will succeed at this! You can't stop me!"
"I don't need to do anything. You will do it yourself."
"Enough. I do not need to listen to this."
"Very true. But you cannot stop what your heart really tells you, now can you? In that not the code of honor you chose to follow? To follow your heart?"
"My heart tells me I can do this. You're not my heart!"
He then began again, but this time, was unable to make it past the first few swings before messing up. The voice returned.
"Hahaha. You say you will do this, but when anything says a word to you, you cannot even take care of the first few swings. How pathetic you really are! Do you think she is going to want you?"
"Shut up!" The man said, throwing his katana straight into the ground. "She loves me deeply even though I have some faults! Everyone has faults. Not just me!"
"Your faults are much greater in number though. And your faults cause those around you to perish."
"That was not my fault! Her…her…her family told me that I wasn't to blame."
"They were just comforting you. In reality though, they wish you had died as well. They hate you, they hate you more than they hate the man who started that fire!"
"That is not true…they see me as a son…to replace…"
"To replace the daughter that you took away! No one else took her from them, you did!"
The man fell to his knees and his arms went to the ground to keep him from falling on his face. "They said they loved me…like a son and that they would care for me as well…but not until…until…she died…"
"Where have they been though? Ever since that day they have been distant to you? Don't you see that? They only wanted to make you feel a little better because you had caused the woman you loved to die."
Tears started to pour out of his eyes, falling slowly onto the ground under him.
"If they could change the place of you and her, they would do it in a heartbeat!"
The tears stopped flowing and the man rose up. "Of course they would. Their daughter is gone and I was merely her lover. They would always want their child instead of someone else." He pulled his katana out from the ground and placed it back into its sheath.
"Then why keep on living then? Use that sword and end your miserable life right now!"
"No. I have much to live for. I do what I do now for my lost love, and for the one I have now. I do this to ensure that I won't have to watch her die…the same way I did Yuki. I will protect her until my death first. No more innocents will have to die anymore." With that he began to walk out of the field, leaving his troubled past, and mind, behind.