Past and Future By Hitokiri-san

Disclaimers: I'll tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth : The day RK is mine the nine hells will break loose and Kenshin will date my Class teacher. Get it?

A/U: Okay. I suck. I update real slow, huh? Please bear with me, guys? And ladies?

Ch 9 A Time We Both Hated - the Bakumatsu

"Zenei!"

Everyone got up from their positions with alarm and reached for their respective weapons.

Zenei glimpsed at Battousai in a nonchalant way; gaze moving sideward he noticed the rurouni gripping his sakabatou tightly, face troubled and knuckles white. The hitokiri glanced around. There was no trace of the other members of Time.

"I don't suggest assaulting me as you are now, Himura. We don't have too much *time* to goof around." He drawled at the semi-transparent Himura Kenshin.

"You..." Kenshin said, half torn between angered and stressed. Battousai took over.

"Okay Zenei I surrender. How does this work?" The boy was shaking slightly, but determined just as well. He reached into his haori and pulled out - finally - the plain and harmless looking top which actually stored the power of the time turner.

"Genuine one this time." Battousai laid the top on his outstretched palm, looking Zenei directly in the eyes.

Zenei scrutinized the thing with rapt attention. There was a layer of dazzling green light surrounding the object, ensuring its own genuineness before the man would ever need to touch it. // Strange. It never emits its power quite so vigorously. // Zenei thought as he walked over to take the object in question.

Battousai stood motionless as his adversary examined the top. There was a gasp behind him. Heart beating infuriatingly fast against his ribcage, the hitokiri boy whipped backwards. The sight meeting him was unnerving - the rurouni was crouching on one knee, looking so faint that he was almost indistinguishable. Light seemed to pass right through him to illuminate the wall behind, and Battousai, squinting his eyes, saw cold sweat rolling down the side of his older counterpart's face - even the sweat seemed a couple of nonexistent silver shadows. Battousai ran to his side, attempting to support him by the shoulder - only his hand passed right through the wanderer's shoulder as though he was nothing but air.

"Kami-sama...what the heck's happening?" The boy rasped, eyes wide as saucers.

Zenei drifted his gaze to the ghost-like rurouni, alarmed. "Shit, he's starting to lose his memory and strength...in other words fading....give me the thing, now!"

For once in his life Battousai complied, his hesitation forgotten. //Rurouni and Kaoru-san...I'm just messing their lives up...it would be better if I just give up. //

Time - nicknamed Zenei Makimoto - surveyed the thing under his nose, nodding. "One more thing to do now." He walked towards the unconscious Kaoru, looking grim. Kaoru was given a sedative earlier due to the shock she received, and the three men were almost relieved that she would not have to hear the end of this insanity.

The hitokiri moved to block his way. To his surprise, so did Saitou.

"What are you doing, Zenei?" Battousai spat, spreading his arms wide.

"I'll have to take her too." Zenei replied calmly.

"Oh no you don't! You *promised*!" Battousai yelled in his face, face flushed.

"As did you. But did you fulfill it?" Silvery eyes gleamed maliciously. "And this willow head too. Saitou Hajime huh? I can't have him blabbing my secret all over the place."

The Ishinshishi hitokiri was now trembling with suppressed rage. He was now in a no-way-out situation. Handing in the object would cause the loss of another two person, but not handing it in would even be worse. He knew that actually *he* was in the wrong, insisting to stay in a time that was not rightfully his - but it was his fault and *his* only, damn it! Kaoru-san, rurouni, even Saitou...they were only victims of his meaningless struggle against fate, against a path that he, Himura Kenshin aka Battousai, had chosen wrongly. He had no right to do this!!

Without thinking what he was doing or what swords were for Battousai had dispersed into the air, reappearing only to slam straight into Zenei, wrestling the top out of his hands. Caught unawares, Zenei threw his hands up into the air, bringing down the shouji behind him.

The redheaded hitokiri heard several voices screaming at once; one was Zenei's, one was Saitou's, the remaining one the rurouni's. He didn't care; he knew for sure that the rurouni would rather be erased from this world than lose his Kaoru-dono - and if the rurouni was erased from this world then other things would matter no more to the hitokiri.

Bringing his elbow down he smashed the nonliving man's windpipe, expecting it to cut his air off momentarily. To any another person this would certainly work, but the boy had forgotten one thing - Zenei wasn't a "living" person to begin with; he didn't need any air thus there was no air to cut off from.

Maybe he realized it a bit too late. With a growl, Zenei blasted the hitokiri up to the ceiling with a simple flick of his hand. Battousai fell back to the ground weakly, raining debris from the ceiling covering every part of him. The rurouni in his own helplessness could only watch as his younger counterpart struggled vainly. Saitou shot in front of the fallen hitokiri, katana stretched out in a Gatotsu stance.

The raven-haired man ignored the offending stance. " *What* the hell are you doing Himura? Your wounds from earlier on haven't recovered so stop being stupid and stay still." Zenei snapped, his patience with the boy cracking. Battousai's incredible will and wits had earned his respect; if not for that single element Zenei would have beaten him to submission ages ago.

The boy brushed the dusty debris from his person, panting loudly. Any sensible person would have thought him harmless for the moment.

Wrong.

As if remembering what the existence of his swords was for, Battousai, still on his knees, brought his katana arcing out of its saya along with a leapt. He had only rested for about half an hour since his last run, therefore in no way recovered; his slash narrowly missed its target, but the hitokiri was fine with that.

With his empty hand the redheaded manslayer slammed his elbow into the enemy's right shoulder, forcing him to drop the time turner. Not waiting for Zenei's retaliation Battousai snatched the falling object, jumping back behind Saitou. The Miburo in his part shielded the boy from immediate attacks.

Battousai looked down at the curious object clutched against his lap. It was his top alright; the top that his deceased father left him as a parting reminder, the one that he had cherished in every day he could remember. That light, however...the boy prodded at unearthly looking light suspiciously. As we all know from our Physics textbook, light doesn't react to any amount of prodding or hitting.

//Strange. // the boy thought, snapping his head up at the opponent again. " Tell me what to do to activate it. I agree to return to my own time, but you shall leave others alone. Otherwise I don't care if we all have to disappear." Naturally, the Mibu wolf would agree to this. His own fate was out to danger; so Battousai's plan was almost undeniable. Zenei would have to get past Saitou first if he wanted the thing back.

"Clever boy..." Zenei glared at the pair of them, desperate. Experience told him that the green light swirling around the top was definitely *not* a good omen. Any time now the time altering power would break loose, and what on earth would happen then - well, even *he* didn't know.

But he was going to take the risk. No one beat Zenei Makimoto in a contest of wits, let alone some stupid little boy such as Battousai. He was going to retrieve the thing in time and everything would go according to his plan no matter what.

At the time of his musings Battousai was staring at the swirling mass of green light again. It was mesmerizing in some eerie way, he quickly discovered. Not that he didn't want to, but he just *couldn't* get his eyes off it.

Not good.

It was as if the light was *controlling* him.

And that, was dangerous.

Battousai didn't dare to even glimpse at the rurouni now, afraid that his will would soften at the sight of his vanishing form. He needed to keep the rurouni's world whole - he couldn't allow the loss of even *one* of those the wanderer held dear. Such was his intention; whatever would happen to him then was another question.

Battousai miscalculating was a rare thing in his life.

Hence he was completely flustered when a dash of green light struck his pupils and blinded the whole of his vision.

Kuso, Zenei had caught him off guard again.

Maintaining his death grip on the top Battousai dived for the nearest wall he could memorize, expecting to dodge the forthcoming attack.

The problem was, the wall wasn't there.

It didn't make sense. No way his photographic memory could be wrong. Ignoring the panic that seeped through him, Battousai made a blind dash to the side, expecting to bump into another wall.

He ran for a couple of seconds; running into nothing but thin air. Again, it didn't make sense at all. What kind of a room could be as big as this?

Battousai skidded to a stop, his heart beating painfully against his chest.

The sound had gone too.

He couldn't hear anything, not even the distant voice of townspeople jostling in the street...

// Please let this stop... // the boy collapsed onto the ground, his breath coming in low rasps. He had enough. All of this...this wasn't suppose to happen in his life. It was as if his world was nothing but mere illusions, shadows that danced and disappeared as they please. As if anything could mock him and make a joke out of him.

He was exhausted. Injured. And on top of that, scared.

Himura Kenshin, the notorious Hitokiri Battousai, felt like he was a lost child for once.

"Kenshin." someone was calling his name.

Battousai tilted his head upwards, expecting someone to tell him that he'd passed out or something...instead, the unsmiling silhouette of the rurouni met his eyes, faint and unreal as an illusion.

"Rurouni...Kenshin...what happened?" the boy picked himself up, a little relieved. He wasn't alone after all. He looked around him. An absolute blanket of blackness. They were two lone figures existing in a universe of nonexistence.

The rurouni shook his head slowly before disintegrating into the mass of nothingness.

"NO! RUROUNI!!!!"

Battousai had finally realized the damage he'd done in earnest.

*~*

Year 1863, Genji 1st year.

It was *not* good.

He was smiling. He looked positively good-natured. His words were soft and polite.

Which, they noted, was the worst thing that could happen.

Everyone who knew Katsura Kogoro well enough knew when the Choshu Lord looked unreasonably good-natured, he was someone to be feared.

Yes, fear him, because that usually meant he was angry beyond measure.

That was why all cringed as Katsura smiled.

"An Armstrong cannon, you say?" he turned to one Kaitori Yashiro, the only man that didn't seemed remotely afraid as the others were. Katagai was sitting right next to the young Choshu leader, silent for the time being.

"Yes," Yashiro replied quietly. "I think Katasugi-san should be informed of this."

"And how come our spy in the Bakufu arms depot haven't even heard of this?" Katsura said, his voice deceptively pleasant.

"..."

"The Bakufu has broken the rule, hasn't it. No Armstrong Cannon, no Gatling gun, no foreign battleships. Is there anything else we don't know in the present?"

Again, there was no answer. Katsura made a note in mind he'd have to beat some sense into them someday. He sighed imperceptibly, scanning through his men with a rather edgy expression.

"Where is Himura?"

"I have sent for him a while ago." Tatsumi Hikideya said, eyeing the shouji with a frown. "He should be here soon..."

The Choshu Lord was slightly surprised. Himura wasn't the type of man to be late; he tried to think of any work the boy had in hand that would cause his disappearance.

None came into his mind.

Worrying the smallest of bits Katsura waved the matter away. More important things were on his mind then; how to get rid of the suspected storage of Armstrong cannons in the Bakufu Arms depot, how to inform other allying clans of the matter; and then there were...

BANG!

"KATSURA-SAN!"

All present in the room jumped on their respective cushions, attention diverted to a young samurai barging in at the moment.

Katsura fretted disapprovingly. "We are having a meeting here, Matsukaze. What is it?"

"Himura-san....Himura-san..."

"What-is-it? Tell me slowly." Katsura said, a strange tinge of frantic tugging at his heart.

"I don't know what happened..." Matsukaze muttered incoherently, "he just, just...." he gasped for breath, directing a shaky finger at his side. Though where he was pointing was solid wall, all knew that referred to the courtyard outside the house.

"Himura!" Katsura lead the whole of his men running in that direction. // What could happen to him at our own headquarters? Please, kami-sama, don't let the child... //

// Stop. //

//You won't get anywhere with this. //

// Just see with your... //

"Damn! What's that?" One of Katsura's men swore as he gawked from the missing rooftop that hung over the corridor to the shattered walkway in front, proclaiming that something really heavy must have struck the roof and landed on the walkway. In the giant mass of destruction the Ishins couldn't even see the cause of this.

*Masaka...*

"...Armstrong Cannon..." someone whispered in a hush tone, sending others spiraling in a mass of doubt and fear.

"Demo...."

"How..."

Katsura swept a look at the shattered tiles and planks lying on the floor, and it came to him.

Not an Armstrong Cannon.

His sixth sense alerted him to an event far more serious, history altering even. He did *not* know what it was, but -

He shot a meaningful glance at Katagai. He understood.

Without a word Katsura Kogoro ran for the courtyard aforementioned, leaving his inferiors gaping at the damage incredibly done.

*~*

WHAM!

At the considerable force, the roof topping the Ishin headquarters broke off completely.

Two similar cries rang through the night air as bits of wooden planks rained down on the two bewildered samurai, unheard by most people. Women had traditionally gone to bed, and men were either attending meetings, resting, or...disappeared to some place that need not be mentioned.

That was *most* people.

Coughing wildly, a wide-eyed teenager emerged from the rubble, his head breaking through the mass of squashed stuff. Pale lavender eyes tore through the area, not really taking anything in in his dizziness.

// Why do I have the feeling that I know this place? // Shaking the unreasonable suspicion away, Battousai recalled the past events in a brief second.

Oh darn it.

"Rurouni!" filling his lungs for the scream only served to take in more dust than necessary. He coughed again, caught in a spasm of frantic. To his dismay either his ki sensing ability had messed up or simply the rurouni wasn't there; Battousai couldn't feel his presence anywhere. "Please, no.tell me you're here..." his hand brushed through the debris instinctively in fear, and something cool met his trembling skin.

Metal.

The hitokiri looked down on it, mouth hanging open.

A hilt.

*Sakabatou*.

So it was his ki sensing ability that messed up.

Gasping in joy, Battousai started digging a hole in the mess. His hands were scratched and bloodied but he didn't care; a strand of red emerging from the depth caught his eyes. He reached his hands in deeper - and pulled out a limp rurouni from under a wooden beam.

Battousai turned him over him over, fright starting to overtake whatever joy he had a moment ago.

The rurouni looked awful. Whatever colour he originally had was drained from his face, his breathing too shallow for the hitokiri's liking. // Kuso, what the...//

The vague sensation of falling returned to him... a faraway view of the rooftop....his older counterpart hugging him against himself so he would be safe from the impact of the fall...

He protected me from the crash, Battousai realized. A familiar feeling of regret filled his heart.

// It's my fault again. My fault. //

// Because of my selfish desire...I hurt him again and again... why, why does this happen every time?//

Battousai dragged his unconscious brother-form away from the rubble, slipping on the ruins as he went. A tight numbness tugged at his heart. Where were they? How was the rurouni? How were the others? And...

Shut up.

I've got to take care of the rurouni first.

The boy settled his clone self onto the nearest cobblestone path, propping him up with an elbow. He checked upon his injuries - a bruised shoulder, a badly cut arm, maybe a bump in the head caused the unconsciousness... he sighed in relief. Nothing too serious then. But why did the wanderer looked as though he had one foot in the coffin?

Must have something to do with the time thing...one part of his mind twitched fearfully. Were they still in the Meiji era? What would happen to...

I said shut up.

Battousai shook the rurouni gingerly; his eyelids were slightly open - which was good. He grabbed his wrist. His pulse was returning to normal too. Another good thing. Seemed like the effects of the previous event was wearing off. Greatly encouraged, Battousai tried calling him.

"Rurouni."

"Uhn..." the boy was overjoyed though surprised upon hearing the rurouni's groan. "Ken...Kenshin? Are...you...you okay? Where...are we?"

"I'm alright," the hitokiri replied, smiling. " As to where we are, I have no..."

As if Kami-sama was personally presenting the answer, Kenshin abruptly noticed a someone standing over Battousai's back, someone who rang a bell in his sea of memories...

"MATSUKAZE!"

No. Freaking. Way.

Please tell us we aren't in the Bakumatsu *again*

Kenshin and Battousai looked up simultaneously - didn't this building look strangely familiar? Gulping, both looked into each other's eyes.

And please tell us we aren't in the Ishin headquarters.

A look at the oh-so-real looking Matsukaze defied all negative answers.

"Hi...Himura-san," the boy stuttered, looking from one Himura Kenshin to another.

Battousai turned around slowly, refusing to accept the truth. "Tell me, Matsukaze, whar year is it now?"

With a yelp Matsukaze retreated from where he'd emerged, having just had enough. Injured and reduced in strength, both Kenshins had no power to stop him; nor had they any intention to do so.

Complete silence. The hitokiri boy was going into shock; the news had hit him far more than it hit the rurouni. Perhaps the wanderer was more experienced than him, or maybe of other reasons; the rurouni watched sympathetically at the blank gaze before him, not saying a word himself.

The silence was extremely disturbing.

"After all that trouble we have to go through.isn't it the same in the end? I got *you* into this mess as well..." Battousai was on his knees, staring mournfully at nothing in particular. "Why didn't I die sooner? Everyone will just be much more happier; I bring nothing but problems upon problems to them. I should have..."

The rurouni picked himself up slowly, fixing the boy with a reproving glare that made him stop on the spot. "Hush. This error in time isn't you fault. *You* didn't ask for it, and no one can fault you for wanting a little happiness..." Kenshin ruffled his long reddish bangs, eyes softened and smiling. "But as for now - "

"If anyone asks, I'm Himura Kentai now."

Battousai managed an amused smile, but it dampened at some indistinct memories. "Wait...wait! I remember telling Katsura-san I'm the only one left in the Himura family."

"This is not good. Well then, I need to get away before Katsura-san finds us." The rurouni said, brows furrowed as he stood unsteadily up. "I'll be around this place, contact you later."

"Wait! Demo..." Battousai didn't want to be left alone to his bloody hitokiri tasks.

"It'll be alright, he'll believe you." With that a purple shadow flew over the wall, faint and undetectable as a fathom.

Which left Battousai wallowing in his own troubles.

*~*

A/U : I would like to introduce certain fics that I think are definitely worth your time:

Vegeta26 - Colder than ice, Harder than Stone

Aroinhkin Silverblade - Bloodstained Steel

Emiri-chan - Rended

Unseen Watcher - Ties of Loyalty

And I think every single person has read Prism and Descent to Madness....so, on with the usual re-reviews Koe 760 -kun: Okay, I know I suck. I update real slow. But you gotta bear with me, I'm sort of hopeless stuck here. A little glimpse of Bakumatsu this chapter, oh please some suggestions....I think I'm running out of ideas. And I don't like it one bit..I am thinking I won't be working the "Kentai" idea this time coz I got another idea in my mind *smirks evilly* but I ain't telling you about it. Ideas just seems to leak out of my mind like crazy. ^_^ I have a great long list of re-reviewing to do, so I'll see you in email! And there's really some interesting stories that I read recently, such as Rended by Emiri-chan (she's got a real cool Inuyasha fic too, I think you've mentioned somewhere that you read Inuyasha also. I tried reading it; I don't understand some of it but it's real good. ) and Ties of Loyalty by Unseen Watcher.

Boomerang-chan-kun: You're weird for always saying you're weird! Does that make sense? Guess no.it's bone deep psychology and hard to understand...and now that I've got my eyeballs back, I forbid anyone to touch it lest it flies all over again ^_~...is this chapter alright? Actually I don't like it too much.my brain's sorta blocked.

Liemtenshi-kun: All those time turning...you think I can't get hold of a wee bit of katanas? And 'bout the pic, I have it fixed now, but you still have to eliminate all the spaces within the URL, coz if I stick the words together the URL just disappears when I preview it...*sweatdrop* Gomen nasai! *Glowing in pride* I've been cutting chapters short for 1500 words - it used to be 5000 but I think it's too much. Now it's 3500 something...and Katsura actually made a appearance in this chap! Hah! Sorry for all the slow updates, anyway. Please turn your RK manga to...I don't know which chap...when the Purgatory is burnt I think Saitou looks surprised ^^ *muttering*Why do every person likes to read each other's re-review? Ahh! No! Don't start throwing things! *embarrassed* I'll be waiting for your glorious return.

Sapphire-eyes-sama-kun: You know the answer now! ^^ I think Battousai will feel better if the rurouni's with him...he's but a lost little boy at the beginning of bloodlust, about half a year since he joined the Ishinshishi. Thanks for your compliments, I'll be updating regularly! *thinking : yeah, update. Someday I will* Did that came out as a thought bubble? *sweatdrop*

ChocolateEclar-kun: Thanks for your review! I hope you're out reading the story! *bows* Are-en-kun: I updated it late! *ducked blood-red tomatoes* no, you don't kill me coz of that! Please review regularly or *I'll* throw a tomato to you!

Lilfrozenfire-kun: Thanks for reading the story! I hope you enjoyed it.

LittoGrrlStephanie-kun: For the continuous reviews, I now proudly present...a real late chapter! Thank you!

Dork-in-Training-kun: Please review when you have time! I'll be waiting.

BabyKaoru-sama-kun: I'll continue at all cost, muwahahhahahahahaha! You must keep reading at all cost too...

Insert catchy name here-kun: I'll try updating faster...but don' expect too much of slow brain!

Califpinay3001-kun: Thanks for the compliments!!

Sajin-Zero-kun: Please catch on with me!

The Sacred Night-kun: Actually I quite like Tasuaka, and I'm a mild bit disappointed that he got kicked out of the pic...*sigh*

CharlieTheOtakuNymph: I've been thinking up that scene for long...I'm glad you like it!!!!

Akima Miota-kun: I just *know* you're out there. Are you enjoying the crap I am writing?