Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or creations from Rurouni Kenshin. But I do share ownership of the original characters with other authors/readers. There's my disclaimer, so… have a nice day… or night.

The Black Sakura Book I – The Birth of Warriors – By Cherry Chibi

Chapter Four

A/N: I know that probably all of you are getting real dizzy from all the names but this would be the last chapter that will introduce a whole new group of characters, after that, I promise that the chapters easier to read and maybe get longer….

~*~ 1/ Revolution ~*~

In the night sky, Sanosuke a nineteen year old kite flew over the tree tops, towards the mountains where his home was. His large brown feathery wings were stretched out. The wind blew and teased his brown hair. Kites were part of the Kindred realm but like the werewolves, they could also be part of the Beasts.

When he spotted the tree houses he immediately glides downwards, he lands with a crash but not straight to the ground.

 "Argh! Get off of me!" A fourteen year old witch tried to scramble out from under him. "You should learn how to fly!!!" Her blue eyes flared angrily at Sano and her blonde hair was a mess.

 "Alright, I'm moving Miena…" Sano stood straight and straightened himself. "By the way, where's everyone else?" He glanced around the scenery of forest land.

 "We were all waiting for you to eat dinner Rooster-head!" Miena said, "Hurry up! I'm starving and Jay cooked..." Before Miena could finish her sentence, she heard Sano fly up to the tree houses and causing a stir. She sighed. What was a girl to do? Then a thought hammered into her head, immediately, she rushed to the ladder heading up to the tree houses. "Rooster-head!! You better leave something for me!"

When she entered the dining tree house, everyone was seated on the floor watching Sano eat with a mix of emotions. Anji and Chou were eating but the other two women were waiting for her.

Grateful, Miena sat beside Jay. "Thanks, you two are the greatest."

Jay, a 17 year old nymph leaned over to Miena's ear and whispered. "I've also cooked some fried noodles, if Rooster-head eats everything, there's that to eat." Jay was had lived in China for a year and most of her influences was from that country. She had just returned, well, Sano forced her to come back since barely anyone else in the group could cook or even be bothered to.

 "Thanks." Miena said gratefully.

Jay's green-grey eyes flashed silver for a second and a frown reached her lips. She shook her head and picked up her pair of chopsticks from the table.

Ina passed Miena a bowl of rice and a pair of chopsticks. "I knew that Rooster-head was going to eat the whole lot." She was 99 years old but looked fifteen. She had the same green-grey eyes as Jay. After giving Miena a bowl of rice she settled and ate.

 "So how was your trip?" Chou questioned Sano with a hint of humour in his tone. "I'm sure that Ina here would throw a fit if you went to visit the northern lands."

Sano choked on a piece of fish. Anji gave Sano's back a quick smack.

 "You visited my homeland without me knowing?!!" Ina shouted at Sano. The flame on her forehead grew. "You knew I wanted to go for ages and now you already went?!"

 "Hey, hey, hey, I only went to sort out business." Sano gave a death glare to Chou. "Broom-head makes it sound like a holiday." Then he continued eating. "And I didn't knew that you wanted to go that bad, so sorry about it."

 "It's alright," Ina leaned back in her seat wearing a smile. "I know you're too much of a Rooster-head to know. Plus, there's no need to lie young lad, I know you went there to meet your 'buddies'."

Small conversations took place after that and soon there were three piles of empty dishes. Most of them were finished by Sano.

 "Sano, have you worked out why we all keep receiving these shock waves yet?" Anji asked Sano in a low voice.

Ina started laughing, "Rooster-head wouldn't work it out. He's not old enough. You could've asked me." The whole room froze at that very moment. All eyes on Ina. "Hey, don't look at me like that. Yes, I've known from the beginning but I would've thought that you would have worked it out."

 "Well…"  Sano crossed his arms, "Why don't you explain then? I'm sure we're all interested to know more about Kaoru Kamiya." He cocked an eyebrow when Miena, Jay and Ina gaped at him.

 "Wow, Sano finally knows something important." Miena said.

 "I know, and here I thought that he was an idiot." Ina added.

Jay cleared her throat, "Sano, what more do you know about Kaoru Kamiya besides her being the Black Sakura?" She started giggling to herself when Sano said nothing. She stood and used wind magic to lift the dishes. "If anyone needs me I'll be outside cleaning." Jay exited.

 "Wait up!" Miena stood and followed Jay.

~*~ 2/Oniwabanshuu ~*~

 "Alright, so this is the plan, we go to Kaoru's dojo, knock on the door and say that we're there to offer our services to her," Kari started off, her blue-green eyes were on high voltage of energy.

 "If she says no, we'll just say that we've just come to visit anyway," Misao said, "I can't wait!" She spun around excited. "It's been so long since I've seen her!"

 "If she says yes, then we tell her that we'll be up and around to watch over the area." Orion continued. Her furry blue-grey ears pointed up on the alert.

 "What's wrong Orion?" Celeste asked.

Orion bared her fangs, "Another group of Bounty Hunters." Her bushy blue-grey fur tail wagged slowly and dangerously. "You three run ahead, I'll hold them off for a while."

 "It'll be better if we all run," Misao said.

 "No." Orion glanced back at them, her pupils had turned into slits and her eyes have turned blood red. "This certain group of people owes me for what they had done to my family."

 (A/N: Bounty Hunters are groups of humans who are hired by the government to go on killing sprees. They are brutal killers of the Kindred and Beasts and after they kill a creature they would often take some part of the body for proof. Giving them more money.)

Misao quickly understood. "In that case, don't be long OK? We don't worry about you." The three women ran. Orion glared forward and growled. Her eyes widened when she heard Misao scream.

 "Orion! There are three groups on us!" She heard Kari shout.

 "Protect Misao!" Orion shouted. She drew out her twin blades, 'Serpent's Tongue'; they were deadly blades that were her family heirloom. The serpent tongue shaped blades had been glazed with poison earlier on.

* * * *

Misao pulled the arrow out of her left shoulder and healed as much of the wound as possible. Several men dressed in black surrounded them. All armed with swords, axes, daggers, knives and many other weapons.

 "Give yourselves up women!" One of the hunters shouted, "And make it easy on yourself."

 "This is going to get ugly," Kari said as she drew out her twin kodachi. She magically tied her hip-length brown hair back into a ponytail. She glared at her opponents. "You creeps are going to pay for harming Misao."

Misao grabbed a handful of kunai and without hesitation she threw all four blades at four different men. Aiming straight at their throats. "Perfect." She said as she charged forward and kicked another man in the groan.

Celeste gathered all the energy of sound and formed a shield over the four of them and with a high pitched blast; she fried two men's brains, killing them instantly. "Big mistake to mess around with Oniwabanshuu." Her green-grey eyes changed to silver and her shoulder-length blonde hair started floating upwards.

 "You women aren't any ordinary creatures," A hunter said, "We should get big rewards for their heads!" He shot an arrow at Orion but the arrow rebound off the shield and shot right back at him.

Kari did a quick count of the hunters, "There's thirty of them left!" She shouted. She sent a message telepathically to the others, *There's far too many for us to handle now, we need our energy to reach the dojo.* She charged passed two men and sliced open their chests.

Blood rained, soaking into everyone's hair and clothing.

*But what if they follow us? We're gonna put the others in danger!* Misao sent a message through. *We're going to have to fight them all!* She threw another handful of kunai.

*I agree with Misao.* Orion thought, *Come on! We can handle them!*

*Everyone, get ready! I'm going to give the final blast.* Celeste thought through. When she was sure that everyone had received her message she gathered up all her strength and summoned up the energy from all the screams and battle cries. Eyes glaring silver, Celeste screamed and a large shockwave of high pitched and controlled sound smashed into the hunters and shattered their minds. Killing them instantly.

Silence. Catching breaths. Chests heaving. Blood dripping.

Orion walked up towards the three, fangs stained with blood. "There aren't any more hunters around and I doubt that there'll be anymore for a while."

Celeste closed her eyes and listened to her surroundings. "There's a lake nearby, we all can wash up there." Her eyes faded back to green-grey and her blonde blood stained hair settled down.

Misao sighed. "I can't believe that humans are getting paid to kill other beings. Let's get going towards the lake. I can't stand the stench any longer."

 "Alright, let's get going," Kari said, "You can lead the way Celeste." Celeste nodded.

~*~ 3/ The Black Sakura ~*~

 "It's been so long since I've seen her!"

Kaoru woke, sweat drooled over her skin. A hand covered her forehead. She sat upright and reminded herself to breathe. 'So much blood…' She slid out of sheets and walked towards her window. 'So much blood…' Kaoru gazed out of the window to the night sky and heaved sigh. She had the ability to stop all of the bloodshed; she would be honoured to be the one to do so but…

Cursed filled tears swelled. 'But…' Kaoru leaned on the ledge of the wooden frame. She squeezed her eyes shut. 'But how?! Father! You taught me everything I needed to know but why? Why must she have the powers of the Black Sakura?' Her mind was screaming. Her insides twisted with agony.

Five years. She has been in conflict with herself for five years. 'I was only twelve. I was only twelve, father. But you left me. I was left alone.' Crystal dust fluttered in the air when she opened her eyes. 'If I am the Black Sakura, then my dreams are telling me things I don't want to happen.' She bit back her sobs. 'I don't want to be left alone again…'

~*~ 4/ Shadows ~*~

Battousai watched Kaoru; he had heard her muffled cries. He felt that he should leave her be but something brought him here and whatever it was, didn't want him to let him go willingly. 'What am I going to do about the girl's condition? I barely know anything about her.' He thought; fighting the overwhelming urge to walk over to her and do anything to give her comfort.

 "I know you're awake, Battousai," Kaoru said, she was approaching him. Her braided hair was a mess from her movements when she was having her nightmares.

 "It's obvious," Battousai said arrogantly, "You're the only one who can sense my ki no matter how much I try to hide it," his husky tone almost smoothing the darkness.

Kaoru sat down beside him on his left with her back against the wall. She glanced sideways and felt a warm drop of blood fall on her hand. Raw energy pounded from that single drop.

Battousai sensed a cold change on Kaoru. Her ki had changed from the faint and delicate to icy cold and powerful. From the corner of his eye he watched as she lifted her right hand to her lips and licked away a drop of blood. A frown formed on her lips. Her sapphire eyes darkened to near black.

 "That wound still bleeds," it wasn't Kaoru who was speaking; it was the darker side of her – the Black Sakura. The iciness of her tone made him think that his skin would be turned to ice if the faintest of her breath reached it.

 "I was told by the witch before," Battousai said coldly. He heard her growl.

 "She's a fool," the Black Sakura stated. Battousai soon realised that a sheet of ice was forming over the floors and walls of the room and his breaths were forming as white mists every time he breathed out. The Black Sakura pointed a finger to mid-air and a triangle formed. "Battousai, your other half, Shinta, knows very well about a court and I'd expect you to have a court of your own is that correct?"

 "Yes."

 "Then tell me," the Black Sakura's eyes were concentrated on the triangle floating in the darkness, its fiery orange lines glowed, "Battousai, how many sides does a triangle have?"

Battousai snorted. What was she trying to test him for? He abruptly replied, "Three." The Black Sakura glared at him.

 "That's if you look at it as a mere simple-minded normal human." The Black Sakura said with a cold anger, "The truth is, in this case, there are four sides." She opened her palm and white-blue lines appeared. They formed a circle at the centre of the triangle. "It was taught to me, by my mother that among the three realms, Humans, Kindred and Beasts, lays a fourth realm which will form by the images of the three realms." The triangle vanished. "Battousai, remember that."

Battousai consumed the words that were being spoken to him.

 "One side of the triangle is the mirror of the second; the third side becomes the closest yet furthest relative to the other two sides." The Black Sakura said.

There was a long cold silence.

 "Would you have a name for this side of you?" Battousai questioned. He saw the Black Sakura's lips curve into a smile.

 "My name has always been Kaoru. It's just the last name. It may be Kamiya or it may be Ryuu." She stood, "Goodnight."

 'Kaoru Ryuu…' Battousai thought, 'But whichever way, she's still Kaoru.'

~*~ Death's Truth ~*~

Tomoe growled to herself. "That bitch doesn't believe me! How will I ever gain her power?!"

A boy about thirteen years old appeared. "Sister? Are you alright?"

Tomoe turned around and smiled. "Yes Enishi. I'm fine. Why aren't you in bed?"

 "Yumi told me to tell you that the Black Moon is coming this month. She said that it would be useful for you to know." Enishi replied.

 "When? What day?" Tomoe asked.

 "In a week's time."

 "Perfect."

~*~

A/N: Another chapter done!!! It feels like ages since I've updated. So I thought that I should put this chapter up ASAP. ^-^x Alright, now each chapter will have less names. No worries. Thanks for reading this far and thanks for your feedback!

Until next time,

~Cherry Chibi