Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, the characters, or anything related to it. The anime is owned by Watsuki Nobuhiro.
Fanfic Title: Epic of a Rurouni
Genre: Action/Adventure/Romance
Rating: PG-13 for violence and mild language
Summary: Mamoru and the other Kishuu Ninjas do not accept Soujiro as Yuki's friend, and want him to leave her world forever.
Her family wanted to reject him,
Since they only saw a samurai who was cold and dim,
But he was her new love,
The one they call "the sword from above".
Chapter 7: Rejection
Soujiro nodded and listened attentively to Yuki's past which was told in the perspectives of Mamoru and Yoko in the Kishuu HQ. While listening, he could not help but remember what Yuki had said to him by the lake. He remembered her saying that her clan assumed she was weak, so they left her. That was not the case, in the rurouni's mind. He fathomed that it was only a misunderstanding and a lack of common sense from Kagemaru and Kentaro.
"I knew that when they did not return, they all must have committed hara- kiri," explained Yoko, gripping her cup of tea tightly as she spoke to the liquid.
"If Kagemaru and Kentaro did return after failing and losing Satsuki, I would have killed them myself," Mamoru said scornfully.
"So you all thought I committed hara-kiri as well?" Yuki asked in disbelief as if she valued her life too much which was unlike the honor of the shinobi.
Yoko and Mamoru nodded solemnly, averting their eyes away from hers. Soujiro could only sigh; he thought his input was unneeded in this situation.
"That's why you didn't look for me, huh?" continued Yuki, tears brimming in her eyes.
"What were we supposed to do? We don't have a damn psychic here!" shouted Mamoru, his fist slammed down on the table causing some cups of tea to fall off.
Yoko interrupted before Mamoru could continue in his furious voice. "Gomen nasai! Please don't be upset, we're glad we found you now."
"You didn't find me, Soujiro-kun did," said Yuki indignantly.
The ninjas turned to Soujiro who was sweating from nervousness since his name was mentioned and he would probably be questioned.
"Where did you find her?" Yoko interrogated, her eyebrow raised.
"I met her in the streets," he said vaguely with an uneasy smile on his face.
"He saved me from Meiji government officers, and said he'd stay with me until I regained my memory," Yuki explained.
"Now that you have found where you belong, you don't need this samurai around anymore," said Mamoru.
"What?" Yuki looked at her former lover in surprise.
Mamoru nodded to the ninjas standing by the door of his office. They approached quickly and grabbed Soujiro's arms, lifting him up like a toy.
Yuki rose from her seat. "Hey! Leave him alone!"
"Get him out of here...now," Mamoru ordered.
The ninjas, who were still clinging on to Soujiro's struggling body, left the office with Yuki closely behind.
- - - -
Soujiro was thrown a couple of feet onto the hard, dusty ground by the ninjas that carried him to the entrance of the Kishuu HQ. He heard Yuki's screams as his head throbbed in pain, blood oozing from his temples. He looked up to see the entrance being closed off by the ninjas, while Yuki's voice was fading.
"Soujiro-kun, don't worry! I'll see you again!" she had shouted before he could no longer hear her.
After lying down to ease the pain, he rose from the ground and swept the dust off of his hakama. He wondered whether he should try to knock down the door or just leave Yuki forever. He hoped her words were true; he did want to see her again. And he could not understand why they couldn't be friends, was it because he wasn't a ninja? What was the ninja and samurai problem anyways? Soujiro frowned and kicked a lump of dust away from his feet; he knew he wouldn't be considered a samurai. Rurouni was a better word for his status.
Soujiro sighed and figured that he should go. So he sauntered away from the Kishuu district, heading to the crowded merchant stalls in the busy district of Kyoto. He trudged instead of walked, his feelings felt fine but he wondered why ninjas must be so...possessive at times. Misao and her group weren't like that, maybe Mamoru is just an ahou. Soujiro smiled a little at thinking of Mamoru as an ahou, but he knew in the corner of his mind that he would get the hell pounded out of him if the okashira heard his muses.
He stopped at a rice stall and sat down, not wanting to order anything. The man who owned the stall looked over at him.
"What'll it be, kid?" he asked, a rice scooping utensil in his hand.
"Umm...I'll get back to you on that," answered Soujiro.
"Can't sit here forever," the man muttered and then looked over to another customer to ask her the same thing he asked Soujiro when he first arrived.
The girl asked for green tea, before sitting down next to Soujiro. She eyed him strangely.
"Weren't you at the Aoiya before, talking to Misao-chan about Himura Kenshin and Shishio Makoto?" she asked quietly, hoping that the rice stall owner did not hear.
"Hai," Soujiro said and then glanced at her, "You're in the Oniwabanshuu aren't you?"
The girl nodded and laughed, her bangs bounced on her pretty visage. "My name's Omasu and you're Seta Soujiro right?"
Soujiro's faced her fully then, revealing the bruises and the blood running down his face. "Hai, nice to see you again, Omasu-san."
She gasped. "What happened to your face?"
"Some of those Kishuu ninjas threw me out of their HQ. Y'know, Yuki finally found out that she belonged with them," he said with a light chuckle.
The mug of green tea was set in front of Omasu, but she didn't even notice it, she was too occupied with staring at Soujiro in a puzzled way. "Let's get you back to the Aoiya, you can stay there for a while."
"Domo arigatou, Omasu-san. I hope your okashira won't have a problem with that," said Soujiro, touching the hot blood on his cheek.
- - - -
Soujiro awoke from an uneventful slumber when he heard his name being called softly. He sat up in his futon to look at Shinomori Aoshi, clad in the usual tan kimono.
"Are you feeling any better?" Aoshi asked a slip of paper was in his large hand.
"Hai, a little," Soujiro said with a smile.
"I have this note for you, it doesn't say who it's from," said Aoshi, then he sauntered deliberately towards the rurouni and dropped the paper on his lap. Without another word, the ex-okashira quietly left the room and slid the door shut.
Soujiro brooded about Aoshi as he unfolded the paper, and then read the illegible words scrawled on it. It read:
Soujiro-kun, Meet me by the trees near the Kishuu HQ at noon. I want to see you again, even if it's only for a short time.
He sighed as he folded it up, and then tucked it inside his sky blue kimono. He slid off of his comfortable futon to slip on his plain slippers. His body ached, but his wounds were wrapped in bandages so they did not bother him as much. Soujiro left the room and raced to the restaurant area, since he heard the noises of the Oniwabanshuu from there.
"What time is it?" he asked Okina, who stood by Omasu as she asked a customer what kind of food they wanted.
Okina's brows furrowed. "I think it's around noon, what's the problem Seta- san?"
When Soujiro heard those words, he sped out of the Aoiya and headed to where he needed to be to see Yuki again. He hoped that he could get there before she left, thinking that he wouldn't show up.