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Finals and the semester are over!! YAY! WINTER BREAK!!
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-Prologue: Conclusion
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"Finally, I was wondering if you forgot or something," Katsu said crossly to Sano as he stood up straight. "You can leave after an h-h-hour," he said as he failed to stifle a yawn. "I'm getting to bed."
"Uh huh," Sanosuke responded rather unenthusiastically as he walked past Katsu, ignoring the look he got from him. He walked to the edge of the small tower that was on one of the sides of the gate, propping his elbows on the edge. A large silver moon hung in the corner of the sky as the night buzzed and chirped under him. Sano sighed heavily, hardly paying attention to the path that he was supposed to be watching ahead of him.
It had been two weeks since that night by the river, and it all seemed so surreal to him. Sometimes he expected to see her standing in the kitchen or by the river, waiting to talk to him, and, honestly, his heart still skipped a beat every time he looked, although it was always in false hopes.
He knew it was true.
She was gone.
And not only that, but she ran away.
From what? He wasn't sure, but he deemed it irrelevant. He had taken everything about her for granted. She was Kyouri, resolute and strong, no matter what were the odds. There was that one time she seemed scared out of her wits, but that hadn't lasted long. She just wasn't one to get scared and run off, and he had never even seen her cry in all the time he knew her until she said goodbye. If someone had told him that she was a scared little girl that ran away, he would've laughed.
But now he saw that she was just like everyone else: she had weaknesses.
What about all the other people he knew or even looked up to? What weaknesses did they have hidden?
What about Captain Sagara?
He's different, he told himself firmly. He would never give up on the Sekihoutai. No, the Captain wouldn't give up on his dream, which Sano knew well since it had been recited with the same fervor to him on several occasions, not that he got tired of hearing it. It instilled hope in him; made him feel that he was doing the right thing here with the Sekihoutai instead of helping his father work to feed his family back at Shinsu.
This was for the good of Japan, and his family.
Kyouri…
Had she given up hope on her dreams, whatever they may have been? He realized now that he had often told her his dream of following the Captain and becoming someone instead of being one of the many faceless farmers, but he had never asked her what she wanted to do…
Maybe, what she did was for the good of her dream… Wherever she was, she was probably happy… That was more than he could hope for, right?
Then why did he feel so miserable? Why was he so unwilling to accept the fact that she was somewhere out there… without him?
"We'll meet again… I'm sure of it."
I'll be waiting, Kyouri, and then maybe you can tell me why…
Sano sighed heavily, his head aching after pounding over so many things at once, her voice was echoing those seven words over and over again; it wasn't helping his headache…
"H-help… please…" A feeble voice suddenly snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked down to see two people, one hanging limply from another's shoulder.
"Who's there?" he yelled down, glad for the distraction from his incessant thoughts.
"S-sekihoutai from the Usui cliff…" he called up weakly. Sanosuke wasted no time and jumped down the steps two at a time, rang the bell that called for the others, and began to open the gate. Soon a group of men had flooded out to meet the two wounded soldiers.
"What is it?" a guard asked the one that had called up to Sano while others took the unconscious man to the infirmary. The soldier seemed to be on the verge of passing out, but he managed a few words before he did:
"We… false army… slaughtered…"
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"Ano, ma'am, I finished what you asked," she said with the cheesiest smile she could muster. "Here's the receipt from the clinic." She held out a small piece of paper to the lady behind the counter. The woman took it and examined it, giving her a critical look behind the paper as Kyouri struggled to keep the expression that threatened to fall off her face.
Finally, the lady broke out in a smile and said, "So you have. Here you are." She handed Kyouri a few coins, which she took eagerly.
"Hai, arigato gozaimasu!" she replied, bowing her head, then shuffling out of the clinic quickly. Once outside, she flipped the coins in the air happily before pocketing them.
She had decided to avoid stealing, her time with the Sekihoutai had indeed been very enlightening. Now she just had to look for work every now and then, and, honestly, it really wasn't so bad. Just put on an angelic face and make sure you don't look too much like a street urchin, and ta da! You're hired! Just deliver this to a friend, or go fetch this for me, blah blah blah…
She walked down the not-so-busy main street of the small town, a slight bounce in her step as she made her way to the market. She was so busy thinking of what she was going to cook that night that she didn't notice the hunched figure heading her way.
Before she could react she had been knocked down as the person shoved her roughly, landing on her rump in a highly undignified manner. The person, however, didn't say anything and just kept going.
"Baka!" she yelled after him as she got up and dusted herself off. "Watch where you're going!" As she fixed her clothes, she realized there was a comforting lump missing from her pocket. Realization dawned on her as she whirled around to see the figure picking up his pace as he walked away briskly. "HEY!!"
She bolted after him, running at full speed which was fast enough to scare her prey into sprinting into a nearby alley. She chased after him, turning sharp corners with amazing agility as he led the way to the outskirts of the town. He was fast, but not as agile as she was, and after dodging so many corners and pedestrians, he was finally in her sights.
Just aim and…
She launched herself at him, catching his midriff with both her arms and wrestling him to the ground.
"What the hell?" he yelled as he began scrambling out of her reach. She grabbed him, however, and climbed on top of him.
"Give… it… back!" she grunted as she tried to reach his balled fist that held her money.
"Fuck off…!" he replied as he struggled to stay out of her reach, waving his arm around. "It's… mine…!"
"I made that money," she glared at him as she finally managed to pin him down, grabbing both his wrists and sitting on his chest. She found a young boy, probably a little older than her, glaring up at her. His dark brown, almost black, hair was covered in dust, along with his annoyed looking face. He was attempting to scare her with a ferocious glare from his slate blue eyes, and it was working. She faltered as she blinked a few times.
"You're like me," she gasped. His eyes widened with realization, then he suddenly threw her off with a surge of energy. She landed on the ground as he struggled to get up.
She wasn't giving up that easily…
She pounced on him yet again, this time aiming for his arm that held her cash. She grabbed his fore arm with one hand and tried to pry her coins from his fist. However, his grip was too strong, and he was beginning to wrench his arm away from her. But before he could, she grabbed his forearm with both hands and suddenly bit him deeply as hard as she could. He let out a howl of pain as he finally let go of her money, and she, in return, let go of his arm.
"What the hell…?!" he exclaimed, looking at her as she quickly gathered up the coins. "What's your problem?!"
"What do you think, mutt face?!" she yelled, straightening herself and pointing an accusatory finger at him. "I'm hungry and I need money to eat, stupid!"
"You didn't have to go chomping on my arm!"
"You didn't have to go stealing from me!"
"It's called survival of the fittest!"
"It's called survival of the stupid!"
"Argh! Whatever!" He shot her a final glare and gave her the finger as he turned around and took off, leaving a small cloud of dust behind him. She snorted angrily before dusting herself off for the second time that day, then also turned around to head to her former destination.
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"There you are," the lady said as she handed Kyouri a small bag of rice. Kyouri nodded happily as she took the bag before handing the woman some of her well earned money. The lady counted it, then bade her goodbye as she turned to leave.
"Mmm, I haven't had rice in a long time," Kyouri smiled to herself. "And I need to get that idiot's taste out of my mouth." She grimaced as she thought about the stupid pick pocket. "I still have some money left… maybe I should get some fish stock?"
Soon she was at another booth, buying a little stock and handing money to the merchant. She was about to leave when she caught a piece of an interesting conversation.
"Have you heard of the Sekihoutai?" She froze, then flattened her back against a wall and tried to look as if she were waiting for someone.
"Umm, no, why?"
"You haven't? Where've you been?" Shrug. "Well, it turns out they were a false army."
"What?"
"Really! The whole lot of them have been disbanded, and most of the regiments have been executed! It's punishment for spreading lies about a tax reform, can you believe it?"
"I can't believe they'd do something so underhanded."
"No kidding. At least they're taken care of now…"
Kyouri didn't hear the rest of what the men were talking about, her mind had gone numb.
False army?
Since when?
Had they all been executed?
What about Sanosuke…?
Was he…?
She didn't notice that she had dropped the rice and fish stock she was holding, even when they poured out onto the ground at her feet.
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He whistled a crooked tune as he walked up the small bridge, not caring that he was butchering whatever song it happened to be. His arm was bandaged where that noneko had bitten him, though it was pretty much healed now since she didn't even break the skin.
How weak was that?
Speaking of which, he saw the young girl standing at the railing of the river, looking down and completely unaware. He instantly ceased his song, then began to furtively make his way towards her.
He could at least chuck her into the river as thanks for biting him. Besides, what if she had rabies or something?
"I don't have any money today," she replied, a listless tone in her voice. "Go away." He stopped mid prowl, stood up straight, and shrugged. He walked up beside her and looked down, as if seeing what was so interesting that she was watching.
"Please go away," she said softly, not changing her gaze from the river. He quirked an eyebrow at her, her sadness making his skin tingle in apprehension.
"I don't like the look you're giving the river," he replied, managing a mock tone of concern in his voice.
"I'm not gonna jump, stupid," she said, her brow furrowing in annoyance. "Besides, what do you care?"
"I dunno," he shrugged once again. "I guess it's like you said, 'you're like me.'" She remained silent as she continued watching the river.
"If you're like me," she muttered. "then what would you do if you suddenly lost everything?" He looked pensive for a moment.
"I got over it," he shrugged, then added in a thoughtful tone, "Wait… no, it's more like I left everything. Different, I guess."
She was silent, then muttered almost inaudibly, "…I left him too." Her head sunk, if possible, even lower. "I was such an idiot... Now I have nothing… What's the point now?"
"Who said you have to have a point to live?"
"I've been running just for the chance to see him again. Now there's no point since he's… gone." Her green eyes began to well with tears, and he suddenly looked startled. His nose started tingling, and before he could stop it a large set of sneezes erupted from him. They subsided after a minute, although she didn't seem to care to notice.
"Ack," he sniffed as he rubbed his nose. "Don't do that!"
"What?" she said, her tone harder as she looked even more annoyed.
"Cry." This time she managed to look up and give him a questioning look. "Don't take it the wrong way," he said huffily. "It just makes my nose itch when people cry." She glared at him.
"Shut up." Her tone was icy now and made a chill run up his spine. This girl had power. "Why don't you just go pee on someone or something?" He sighed heavily as he gave her an exasperated look.
"Okay, so you have nothing. Big deal. You're not the only one."
"But I had something!" she yelled back at him. "He was the one friend I had, and now he's probably…" Her throat clamped shut again as a new wave of tears came, causing a new wave of sneezes to erupt from him. Finally, he finished as he rubbed his nose furiously with the back of his hand. He shot an annoyed look at her before talking.
"So? It's not like he was the last soul left on earth or something."
"But who would…?"
He cut her off. "There are more of us than you think." She looked up at him with surprise, her eyes wide. "It's not like you're completely alone."
"What? Really?"
"Yeah," he said, a grin stretching across his face. How could she be so clueless? "Like me. I'm Yamainu, by the way."
"… Kyouri… I'm Kyouri."
"Okay then," he said as his grin got, if possible, even wider. "Where're you headed, Kyouri?"
"Nowhere," she shrugged.
"Great, neither am I."
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Note: Aww, she made a friend! Also, this story will be based mostly on the manga, unless I like how things turned out in the anime better, in which case I will use my powers as an authoress to change reality as we know it (-laughs evilly-).
(Hmm, I tend to like people staring into space on a bridge, don't I?)
I wanted to give Sano somewhat of a reality check; he seemed so naïve as a little kid, idolizing the Captain so much! (so cute!). Of course, he still idealizes Captain Sagara even when he's older, but after the Jinchuu ark and what happened to Kenshin, I think he begins to realize that everyone has faults and weaknesses. This is just a small dose of that, I guess…
Okay, I'm kinda glad the prologue's over; this one has big plans for the heroine and my favorite rooster head! New characters are also gonna come in (Yamainu's gonna be staying for a while. Just a little while tho'!), and I'm gonna have fun writing their reunion. If anyone has any suggestions on how you want them to meet again (Sano'll be with the Kenshin-gumi, of course), then please tell me! I can't guarantee I'll use them, but…
I haven't had one of these in a while!
Reviewer Responses:
WhiteRabbit5: Okay, good, I was worried about their goodbye! (do you feel nervous when you post mushy stuff?). Yeah, I hate those characters that everyone seems to love and have no faults because they're always so perfect (ugh, mary-sues, I try to stay away from them…). Ah, yes, her uncle is a bastard, but you'll just have to wait and see (mwa ha ha). (-hops up and down-) I'm glad to see you're as happy to head off to the Meiji as I am! (the bouncy laundry machine awaits! ;) lol). Thank you so much for reviewing!
Rayne-chan: Thank you for your reviews! Your compliments really give me a boost!
Zop: Thank you, I really try to write as well as I can (I must re-read my stories, like, five million times for mistakes)!
Dew-Drop Viper: I'm so glad you like it! (-smile!-). Thanks for reviewing!
darkXdemon15: I'm keeping going! Thank you for your review!
You guys are so cool! Now I regret not being able to post anything for a while. I'm going on vacation to visit relatives in Mexico, so I'll be gone until New Years, I think… So when I come back I look forward to snuggling with my computer and continuing my story (long car rides are great times to brainstorm). I also look forward to some new chapters from the fics I like to read (-looks at Usashi-chan expectantly-)!
Happy Holidays to all and to all a good fic! Or anime. Or manga.
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Don't forget to review please!
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