Rurouni Kenshin Fanfic

Rurouni Kenshin & Samurai X Original Japanese Version © N.Watsuki/Shueisha * Fuji-TV * SME Visual Works Inc. * Sony Pictures Entertainment

All Fanfics created by Chiruken (me) were written for the sole purpose of shared entertainment and not intended for publication or sale.

**~**

Battousai

By Chiruken

Death

    Death was all around him, the stench thick on the air.  He choked, feeling the sticky warmth of blood coating his tattered clothes.  Screams echoed in his mind, accompanied by course laughter and curses overriding pleas for mercy.  He knew he was going to die, just like everyone else.  The bandits were cutting down everyone, whether they be slaves or slave traders.  It didn't seem to matter to them.  They were enjoying the thrill of the killing and it sickened him.

    He was cornered, the older girls the slave traders had acquired cowering just behind him.  He looked down, seeing a discarded katana and reached for it.  The weight was more than he'd expected, the hilt too large for his small hands, yet it felt right.  Some part of him recognized the weight of the weapon and knew how to compensate for it.  He felt a shifting within him and knew instinctively that the being that had saved his life had somehow joined with him, was within him, lurking just beyond his awareness.

    He straightened, lifting the heavy weapon before him, and faced the bandits approaching with blades drawn and dripping blood.  He trembled, afraid, and clenched his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering.  Suddenly he felt calmness infusing him.  To his surprise, he found himself watching the events as if from a distance, as if he were looking through someone else's eyes.  His grip changed on the hilt, became more certain, and his body tensed as the long blade rose to a ready position.

    **At last!  Something I can do.  Fear not, Shinta…I will not let these vermin touch you.** Within his mind Shinta cowered, afraid of what was about to come.  His body was no longer his own, having been taken over by the being he shared it with.  He knew with a certainty that terrified him that the men approaching were about to die…by his hand.  He wasn't controlling it, but he knew that he was about to kill the bandits who had slaughtered the other slaves.  He didn't want to kill them, he didn't want to kill **anyone** but if he didn't do something, then the young women behind him would die.  His resolve strengthened, he gave up control completely and retreated to the sanctuary within his mind.

    Sparing a small portion of his attention, he attempted to shield the child's mind from what was about to come.  Shinta, he'd learned, was much to gentle to witness such carnage as what was about to come.  This was his realm.  He was a bringer of death, a being forged in the heat of battle who reveled in the blood lust now singing in his veins.  He would use his skills to protect the child he now shared a body with and the females he wished save.  No harm would come to them, he would ensure it.

    Suddenly he was dragged back, the katana falling with a clatter from his hands.  He gasped in surprise, his eyes being covered.  "Don't look!"  But he did.  He watched as first one woman, and then another was struck down, their words echoing in his mind.  The one holding him was dragged away by her hair, her voice rising in a plea for his life.  "Please, spare this child!"  His couldn't take his gaze away as the blade passed through the back of her neck to emerge from her throat.  She fell to the ground, eyes seeking his.  "Live, Shinta…for me…" The rest of her words were cut off cruelly with a sharp thrust of the bloody katana.  He felt Shinta's horror and cringed inwardly, knowing that the boy had witnessed the brutal slaying of the women as well.  He cursed himself for not shielding him more effectively.  The katana was too far from him, out of reach.  He would have to find another means of eliminate the threat.  The next instant it was a moot point.  One after another the bandits were cut down.  He retreated immediately, sensing the powerful ki of the unknown swordsman.  He doubted he would slay a child, but if he sensed **his** presence, death would be assured.

**~**

Author's Notes:

Honestly…am I the only one that has so much trouble uploading a simple chapter?!