Hullo... Yes, I know, an awful lot of time between chapters. Sorry. sigh Well, anyhoo, here's another chappie...
Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, but I DO own Aiya, Sutai, and Sekthy (introduced in this chapter!)
Soujiro woke up in the middle of the night, sitting up and frowning.
"What is it?" he muttered to himself. A sound broke through the quiet suddenly, sounding just like... A moan of pain? He hurriedly got out of bed, dressing. His unused sword, lying beside his bed, slipped his mind completely as he left the room.
He went to the source of the sound and then stopped, eyes widening. A strange figure was standing in the middle of the hallway, an almost bizarrely long, thin sword in hand. And the tip of that weapon was going into the shoulder of none other than Sutai. He felt for his sword-sheath and then sighed when he found nothing, cursing himself. The figure turned and looked at him, taking a step backwards and pulling his sword free. He looked around the age of 18, with fair hair falling to just about earlobe length. His eyes were a deep green, flecked with some brown, and seemed to stare not just into Soujiro but rather past him. A black cloth was wrapped around the lower part of his face, covering his mouth completely.
"Who... Are you?" Soujiro asked, worried gaze flicking to the boy who lay motionless on the floor. Without a word, the tall, lean young man turned and fled, booted feet near-silent as they hit the floor. He went forward, bending beside Sutai's still form and touching the shoulder which had been wounded. Blood soaked his hands quickly, already pooling the floor around him.
"No... Don't be dead..." Soujiro felt for a pulse and found one, sighing with relief. "Still alive... There's still hope." He carefully lifted the still rather thin boy, carrying him gently to Kaoru's room.
"Miss Kaoru! I'm sorry to wake you, but-"he started, looking at the woman as she blearily sat up and looked at him. Before he could finished, a sharp pain sliced through him. Almost immediately he toppled forward, slumping to the ground.
Sorry, I know this is like BIZARRELY short, but... Yeah. I'm not in the mood for writing much right now, just felt the need to update. That's why it sucks so dang badly. sigh