Hey everyone, this is Nicky9. I have decided once again to continue writing my fics. You can say I receive inspiration from a very good friend, who wouldn't give up on me. Deseray in the meantime decided to focus more on school. I will only continue to update my fics when I update others. I will try to write most and update most of them at the same time. If anyone has comments, questions, or suggestions, please leave them in your review. Thank you for those who supported Deseray. I don't take flames.
Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin series. I wish I did but I don't. : (
Suffer
Chapter Three
Talk about unfair. Talk about the ones who suffer the ones who die. They have no justice, no one to look after him or her, no one to help him or her. They died; their blood flowed on the empty dirty roads. Is there anyone who would help these poor souls, these weaklings? No. People suffer and they suffer for a cause unknown to them. A long time ago people suffered for the unknown. It was not anyone's fault, after all the weak died, and the strong survived. Yet to have innocent souls be deteriorated from the world. To have blood drip from the ends of a silver blade. To know that nature takes life and creates it within nine months, can end within mere seconds. These things are wrong. Human lives are not something to mess with. Souls are not something to be taken away so easily.
So what if the strong survives? The weak must live on. What makes them weak is there is no hope for them to live. Their families are something they refuse to live for, for they have none. It was taken away, as their hopes died within an instant. Now on the streets laid dead bodies, filled with pools of blood. This was what they waited; this was what they wanted. In hopes to reunite with their families, with their friends, they waited for their life to end, for something to reclaim their souls.
Kaoru watched outside the window from the room she was in. Outside she could see dead bodies, one after another on the floor. Pools of red liquid surrounded everywhere. Silver glints beside each corpse reflected the red, spilling from each corpse. Each one of them made her feel sick. She felt something driving its way up her stomach into her throat. The smell of decaying flesh alone, got her mind in swirls, had her temples pounding with such intensity, she felt like she was dying from torture.
Just as she moved her body, she felt two large firm hands grabbed her hard by her forearms. The pressure was so hard she could have sworn her already sore body was going to shatter from the intensity.
"So you have awakened from your slumber. I was wondering when you would awake, though you would have been better off dead," said a harsh familiar voice. It was the same voice she heard earlier, the same voice that threatened a woman.
"Answer me God damn it! Have you no voice! You were damn annoying before, and now you are as quiet as the dead," said the voice again. The large hands, the ones with such an intense grip on her small frail body, turned her around until her sapphire eyes were looking directly into rumbling, violent amber eyes. They bored into her eyes, as if examining her very soul.
Kaoru could not get a good look at his face. His eyes alone filled her vision. Before she could say anything, before she could struggle against him, she heard another voice. It was the same woman's voice she heard earlier.
"No!" cried the voice. "Please let her go Battousai! She is weak! Anymore pressure on her fragile bones could kill her!"
"Shut up or I will kill her, but very slowly," said Battousai deadly calm. His voice darker, his amber eyes deadly as he focused at the limp figure he held so tightly in his hands. The pressure was so hard between his hands; with one more budge at the limp figure he held so tightly could snap her bones in pieces.
Kaoru no longer heard the woman's voice. She no longer saw Battousai's amber eyes. Her vision became blurry, with flecks of black and white. Her head pounded, her breathing slowed and grew more ragged. She felt her already helpless body lost the last of the energy and everything went blank.
Talk about unfair. Talk about cruel. The ones who suffer immensely were the first ones to die. The ones, who were good, were taken to Kami-sama, without question or words. The bad were left to stay on the filthy earth to live out the days with no law and order to preserve justice. What kind of system was this?
"Fuck!" Sano swore. He couldn't believe the violent storm he felt in the air when he walked into Kaoru's dojo. He expected everything to be calm at the dojo, since Tokyo streets were corrupted. Kaoru was needed alive, her innocence, her smile alone could bring everyone back to normal. Her naïve thinking, her compassionate ways were needed in Tokyo, but she was lying in bed, her world caught between both life and death. Her innocence long faded from the attack. Her innocence was stripped from both mind and body. Her soul was the only thing left that was pure. At least that was what he thought.
What he hated most was himself. He could not protect her when she needed him. The time when Battousai threw her out of the dojo, Sano should have gone with her. Damn Tokyo, damn the corruption, the chaos. Innocent people suffered and among them were his innocent friend, who he looked after like a sister, Kaoru. Her attackers were going to pay with their very lives. If he had to turn to murder, he was willing to do so. Japan now, turned into a country filled with chaos. The government couldn't even function properly. Who was he to care if he committed murder to the ones who murdered his friend's innocence? He vowed the instant he found Kaoru's attackers, he would kill them by torturing every single one of them slowly.
As Sano walked past the dojo halls looking for sign of life, he noticed a pale body lying on the floor. Blood was gushing from the wounds staining the white bandages with glossy red. That alone spoke to Sano that the blood was fresh. He could smell the bitter aroma in the air. It was different from the blood outside. This aroma was fresh, sweet, still pumping with life. He could lightly hear something moving from the back. He moved closer to pale figure. Raven hair cascaded everywhere, both arms, were pinned beneath the small frame. The baggy gi and hakama were covered with bloody image of red. Turning the limp figure around, so that Sano could get a good look of what he thought could be an intruder, astonished him. As quickly as he held the figure, he let it go. It collapsed on to the floor with a big thud.
Please don't let her be dead. Please let her be okay. Sano was flipping. His mind went into over drive mode. His senses turned to alert mode, looking for a ki that he wasn't familiar with. He found nothing. How could he fail again? How could he fail to protect his friend? How much more must she suffer? Please Kaoru, still be alive for us, for everyone, we still need you.
Picking up the limp figure slowly, as not to cause any more pain to the raven-haired girl in his arms, he walked her back into her room where she first dwelled. He placed her gently onto the futon, covered her little body up for the mean time being and left the room.
Sano needed time to think. He needed room to breathe. His heart rate increased when he saw her limp figure on the floor. He would never forgive himself if she died. He would never live in peace if she left him. His duty was to protect her. That was what Kenshin put him in charge of. Instead he was failing both of them. He was failing everyone.
"Sano!" called a little friend. Sano who was already outside dojo saw his little friend approaching him with another friend beside him. From the distance he could make out the tall frame, the dangerous way he walked. Beside his frame, Sano saw the outline of sword's sheathe. The figures came closer to him and he saw the police uniform. To his astonishment, he saw the last man he ever wanted to see.
"Sano, I have important news to tell you!" yelled his little friend. Sano looked down to see his little friend, Yahiko look up at him with such seriousness and concern in his chocolate brown eyes.
"What is it Yahiko, and what is Saito doing with you here?" Sano didn't have time to chat around with Saito. In fact he couldn't stand Saito. Saito was a great fighter with his sword and without his sword. That alone proved how well he was diversified with fighting. He was known as having the same strength as Battousai. There was no hell of a way Sano could ever beat Battousai and Saito.
"Don't mind me here, but I came to give you important news. If you are still interested then let me know," answered Saito calmly.
"Fine, tell me what is so important besides the fact I have a friend who is almost dead." He waited impatiently for the man he detested to tell him what needed to be said.
"There are a group of men who have decided to turn the tables around in Japan. Somehow the bombing of the most important government structure of Japan caused the peasants to revolt against the government. The structure fell, with it, killing all of the important people needed to run Japan. Apparently the night the bombing took place, the whole Japanese council held a private meeting," said Saito calmly. This really pissed Sano off.
"So what!" he replied. He had better things to do, then to stand here and hear about politics. He had a friend in serious need of help.
"I know you hate the government, but all of the important supporters died that night from the terrible bombing. This is what caused the outrage, the revolt against the government."
"Well, who ever did this, they have been doing their homework well."
"That is not all Sano," replied Yahiko. Sano looked down at the small boy who gazed at the dojo so intently. The look on the boy's face looked so determined, his gaze never looked away from the dojo. It must have been Kaoru he was thinking about. She was located inside there, lying between existent and non-existent.
"What do you mean?"
"Look, when people want to take over a land. What are the steps to taking over that land?" asked Yahiko. He now turned his gaze from the dojo to look at Sano.
"I don't know. They head for the government."
Sano saw the way Yahiko looked at him. He looked at him as if he looked stupid or something.
"Think of it logically," said Saito once again calmly.
"What the hell do you think? Right now I have other things on my mind then to be focusing on this issue!"
"Sano, when a land is being taken over, the first thing that goes is the people in it. Then the natural resources are raped from that land. Last but not least the government is affected. Right now villages are being burned to the ground. Deforestation is happening within the woods. Fresh running rivers are being polluted. Toxins are in the air, killing people slowly. A new disease was born killing people instantly who gets them. So many innocent people are dying." Yahiko then looked back at the dojo one last time. "The fact is that these men are smart. To raid and rule a land, the people are the first victims to reach, and then from there, everything else. Since peasants are the ones who operate the land, who works for the higher class, they suffer, and everything on top suffers."
"Okay, so these guys are smart asses. I give them that benefit of the doubt. I think I should go look for Megumi," said Sano quietly. He turned his back to go; however what he heard Yahiko said made him stop.
"These men not only kill other men, but they also rape women."
Knowing that Sano could not make any more moves further, after hearing what Yahiko said he just stood his ground. He clenched his fists at his side, until his knuckles cracked from the tight pressure of his strength. His whole body paled. Slowly the information digested in him. This group of men, who raped women, was the same ones who raped Kaoru.