Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin does not and will not ever belong to me.

A Shard of Eternity

Chapter One: My Immortal

What do you live for…if you cannot die?

What do you live for…if everyone fades away…

Except you?

The sake is tasteless, Kaoru commented to herself, as she lifted the porcelain cup to her mouth and drank. She did not know why she drank it, for time had long worn away the taste and now it was simply a scalding liquid flooding through her mouth. Time….It was a plain, uncomplicated word, yet everybody seemed to need more of it…except her…Without looking up, Kaoru knew that a clock hung on the back wall of the restaurant she sat in now. It was a small device, round and circular, with black hands that moved round and round, signifying that time was passing by…and that everyone was aging with each second that passed.

Kaoru poured herself another cup of sake. The cold night air danced through the open door of the restaurant, throwing its chilly arms everything it touched. Tick tock, went the clock hanging on the wall. The sound of time ticking away had long lost its meanings to her. Tick tock, went the small black hands of the clock as time fled away. Tick tock.

"Your food, miss?" A tired looking waitress in a black skirt approached her, with a tray ladled with a steaming plate along with eating utensils.

The waitress's tired hands suddenly slipped as she handed the plate to Kaoru, and the shining silver fork and knife dropped. Kaoru saw them falling to her and saw a flash of light as the knife sliced into her skin, and then dropped with a thud onto the floor.

"I…I………" The waitress stared at Kaoru's leg.

There was little blood, yet it was still blood. The knife had left a long gash upon her leg and the blood was dripping from it. Drip…drip…drip…

The waitress stared, as the wound began to close, almost instantly. The flesh grew over the gash and finally closed over it. There was no trace of what had happened.

"You….you are……" The waitress's wide, unbelieving eyes stared into Kaoru's face, a face that seemed so serene…yet with a hint of sadness.

"I am not normal…I should leave now…I…must…go…"Kaoru whispered to herself. She turned to the astounded waitress and said softly, "You were just imagining. Nothing happened….I should go now."

She left the table, and walked towards the door. The night air was a blessing this time, soothing her….

For time had long abandoned Kaoru. Her mind was and would be forever the mind of an eighteen year old. But her soul was that of one who had seen far too much. Kaoru was ageless. She had been eighteen for more than two hundred years.