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: Soujiro hunts down Mamoru and the Kishuu Ninjas to avenge Yuki's death. In the end, he finds the truth he sought for so long.
She saved him only to allow her life to end,
As he watched her take her final breath,
The clock of life chimed at the hour of Death.Chapter 9: Requiem
As he walked, the world around him seemed gray. The colors of nature and the beauty he had seen faded like bright garments that were washed too many times. Soujiro felt sorrow in his broken heart and his broken mind. And he knew what must be done; he knew that he would have to break his vow of never killing again. How could he value the lives of those that take lives themselves? It was only fitting that everything should end this way. Many lives for one precious life: the life of his love.
Soujiro stopped as he was thinking of what to do, and then he looked down at his hakama. He ripped the base of the hakama, so the pleated trousers would end at the bottom of his knees. If he was going to run like hell, nothing should get in the way to cause a fatal accident. He tossed the garments down and listened to the sounds about him. Something was coming. He gazed up warily to the tree tops, at the ninjas that pointed down at him. They jumped from their places to surround him once again. He watched them close in on him while he lifted his right foot slowly so it could fall back down to the ground, again and again in a rhythmic motion. He was starting up his specialty, he was starting the shukuchi. Soujiro knew that he would go slowly at first (200 miles per second or so) and then after some time go a lot faster into the full shukuchi. His legs had not experienced the blurry rush of the shukuchi in a while and he hoped they would be all right in the pressure. He knew that losing was not an option, like when frowning was not an option while he was in the Juppon Gatana and Shishio's greatest warrior.
Suddenly, he was gone from the ninja's sight. They looked around but one was flung to the ground, since his head was bashed in by the digging utensil Soujiro swung as he ran like a mad man. Dirt, rocks, grass, and leaves flew into the air violently as the rurouni rushed through the vicinity, knocking down ninjas as he sprinted by them. Yoko gave out a strangled scream as her own throat was cut by the blade of the tool Soujiro held. She fell slowly as he whizzed by her, looking on to other targets. The ninjas could see him every now and then, but he was moving to fast for them to counter him. They frantically threw shurikens about but only managed to hit each other, and Mamoru's shouts could be heard as his head swiveled this way and that to try to decipher where Soujiro would end up next.
When he swung around the tool in a full circle, five ninjas fell. All of them had cut throats. He would cut every last throat since that was Yuki's fate; it was only fair. When most of the ninjas were dead and some were injured and could not endure the horror any longer, Mamoru died swiftly as Soujiro rushed by him. Blood rushed down his neck, as he stumbled down, holding the slash on his neck and choking.
Soujiro stopped to look over his fallen body. "I hope you realized that your last order was a mistake, Mamoru-sama."
When Soujiro had killed the last of the ninjas, he sauntered back to Yuki's body. He reeked of blood and death, and his weapon was scarlet with the luster of blood. He sighed as his feet ached from sprinting and his arms ached from swinging. But he was glad that he had finished his job and still had his own life to keep. Sprinkles of rain fell from the sky as he arrived near Yuki. He knelt by her and then heaved her over his shoulder. He walked to a secluded area and dropped her slowly, as he dug into the ground. The rain lightly continued as he dug a sort of pit in the ground, for Yuki's burial. Thoughts swam in his head as he dug monotonously.
He did not really find a suitable truth while with Yuki but he hoped the thing he learned could be considered a truth. He came to the conclusion that certain memories should be hidden forever. Pain that might not be endured can erupt from those memories and it's best to look to the future for new memories. Soujiro smiled a little as he lifted up Yuki to drop her into the pit, he thought ruefully that she should have listened to him and tried to make new memories. The past should be left buried, like Yuki's body and Soujiro's love for her. When she was in the pit, he covered it with the dirt that he had dug up. The rain was pouring down harder now, as if the angels in the sky were crying for all those that died on this fateful day. He knew that this day was just as fateful as the day that he met Yuki, which he should forget since his new truth taught him that. But how could he forget if it's a part of how he came up with the truth? He sighed in a sobbing way as he saw the flaws in his truth. Unfortunately, he wasn't as intelligent as Himura Kenshin or his dear Shishio Makoto to find a truth with no flaws. As he thought about it, he saw the flaws in their truths as well, so he did not feel so ashamed.
Thunder roared through the sky as lightning shook the grayness of the clouds, while Soujiro stared down at Yuki's grave. He smiled as rain poured down his face, reminding him of when he killed his cruel family. He thought it ironic that the rain spilling down his face could once again hide his tears. In his tired mind, he heard Shishio laughing at him because he cried and the back of his hand rose to brush the tears away. More tears flowed down though, non-stop like the rain around him. He was not ashamed to cry now like he was all those times with Shishio. He did not care if he was weak because those that don't cry could never kill him. And he did not care if he killed people because those he would kill would always deserve their fate. He did not care if he remembered all the times with Yuki and the memories he had with her, because he wanted to keep them in his heart and cherish them forever since she was the one who taught him the new truth he had engraved next to Himura's and Shishio's.END- - - -
Can you all guess what truth Soujiro learned? There really isn't any right or wrong answer, I just wanted to see what everyone got out of this chapter. There were a lot of tenets talked about but the one Soujiro learned is only in the minds of the readers and could not be found in the text of the story. Also, I see how this story can be considered a tragedy but it will always be a sad little action/adventure/romance about how Soujiro loved someone who was already long dead. ;D