Saying goodbye to the person you care about the most is probably the hardest thing anybody could ever go through. I've now done that twice.
Ten years ago in a cruel twist of fate, I had to say goodbye forever to my beloved. Today I did the same, not knowing if I'll return from this mission or not. It was hard to tell her that I had to leave, she believes in me and in that I will come back to her alive and well. I am not too sure. Shishio is a very dangerous man, and I have gotten a bit rusty over the last ten years. I do not want to let my other half come out, after that fight with Saito; he's been very restless and wants to draw some blood. I cannot permit him to do that. I know it was a mistake letting him take over that fight with Saito, but there a very few men that can make me feel the urge to fight so palpable that it hurts. I do not know if Shishio will be one such man, but I have to be prepared to fight my inner demons as well as the ones that wander around this land. Whatever happens I have to come back alive, for her sake as well as mine.
I couldn't bring myself to say goodbye to any more people. I know I did wrong leaving all my friends behind without a goodbye, but leaving her crying without me giving a glance back at her fallen form, I knew that that was painful enough. I just hope that they will forgive me.
As I wandered alone, in a dreadful silence that I hadn't heard since I arrived at the dojo, my thoughts wandered to her and what might have been if she hadn't gotten in the way of my sword and died.
I was young and stupid, now I know that. My master warned me not to go fight that war, that I wasn't ready and that I would only be used, but my sense of justice was too strong in me to hear reasons. I left and fought the war. And he was right; they only used me.
In the process, I lost my humanity, became apathetic instead of empathetic. I felt no remorse in killing; I did as I was told.
How was I to know that by killing Kiyosato Akira, whom I thought was just a mere body guard, my life was ultimately going to become a great pain. It was his death that brought her to me and our lives were both destroyed.
I remember she fainted after seeing me kill a man. Usually I would have killed any witness, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to kill her. She was beautiful.
Time passed and in a bizarre twist of events the leader of the people I worked for, Katsura Kogoro, gave us his blessing and we were to live together and pretend we were married. We learned to love each other and slowly our wounds were healing, but then again, wounds still leave scars behind, and those scars come back to haunt us.
The shadow of her dead fiancée was still there. Before his death at my hands, he managed to cut me and that wound kept bleeding until she came, but it was still a reminder of what I had done.
In the end, he took his revenge on me by taking her away. Her family despised me, but we ignored that simple fact, she ignored her brother, his threats or whatnot, and it killed her.
Since then, I've matured, and I want to come back to Tokyo, I don't want anybody else to suffer what I did when I lost the one I loved. If necessary, nobody should have to go through that pain, and I don't want to cause Kaoru pain.
My first encounter with Makimachi Misao didn't start off right.
A noise brought me back into reality. It was a young girl thief. She had sweet -talked a few men out of their money and they wanted payback, but she was pretty good and took them out without much effort.
I shall keep in mind never to try and talk a thief into giving back what doesn't belong to them, for I ended up losing my precious sakabato.
In the end, it all turned out fine, but now I have this girl chasing after me because she wants to know about something.
Another note to self, never have a reaction at the mention of a familiar name. That is how I unwillingly acquired my young companion. She is looking for Shinamori Aoshi, a man I met under not-so-nice- circumstances.
You see, one of my now friends, Takani Megumi, worked for this entrepreneur who forced her to make opium. She ran away, but this man, Takeda Kanryu, hired the Oniwabanshu to get her back. To make a long a story short, I fought their leader, Shinomori Aoshi and the rest of the group got killed by Kanryu. I don't want to tell this poor girl that.
She is spirited, which somewhat reminds me of Kaoru, but I must not think of her, she is safe in Tokyo, and I am headed towards Kyoto.
Finally I reached my destination. I am in the place that I had hoped never to return to. This place holds painful memories for me, and if it had been my choice I would never have returned.
Since I had Misao-dono traveling with me, I am now staying at their house, the Aoyia. She lives with her grandfather and the other members of the Oniwanbanshu. They are a good lot.
But now back to what is important. I must go look for my former master. Seijuro Hiko, so I can finish my training.
He wasn't easy to track down, but with the help of the people at the Aoyia I was able to track him down. He took up pottery and is now no more than a simple potter, but I know better.
He wasn't very happy to see me, but after much begging he finally agreed to teach me the Hiten Misurugi ryuu's last and deadliest attack. It was the amakeru ryu no hirameki. It was designed to slice right through your opponent, but as my sword is a reversed blade one, it can only bruise, not cut.
I am very pleased that he agreed to teach me the ultimate technique because I know that I don't deserve it in anyway, for I left in the middle of my training.
If I had listened to him back then, I would've never suffered as I did, but I also would've never met her.
It is ironic, if I had stayed and finish my training, I would have grown up "happy", but since I left I met the person that was going to make me the happiest man alive, but also make me the most miserable man on Earth.
I had avoided this city for ten years because it holds so many memories for me and I never thought that I was going to be back here to fight the person that took over my job after she died.
He is going to be one formidable foe.
Ok, I know I deviated a bit from what actually happened, but then again this is y it is called fan fiction….thanx 4 the reviews.