Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin.
Tears, Shatter, and Joy
Chapter One
By: Espiritus
Five years later...
Tears no longer came when the Agony tore another soul apart. It had taken five years for her to become immune to its cold, deathly chill but she finally stopped crying. The person who laid on the damp cot was no more than a boy, blond haired and blue eyed, but neither his looks nor charm had been able to save him from his fate - a fate that most supporters of the rebellion suffered; not many were lucky enough for death to come quickly. The Oraians wanted more than that, they craved for suffering. They desired the Agony.
Not all Oraians were like that though as Kaoru had come to find. Just as in all societies people of different personalities and beliefs dwelled - one man was like that, the man who stood by her side with a constant smile on his youthful, round face. But even he was different from all others, terrifyingly different.
"There goes another, Miss Kaoru," he said pulling the covers over the blond haired boy's face. Kaoru could only nod in response before standing. "I liked him too; he was a decent warrior."
Just like that, Kaoru asked herself. Just like that Soujiro can say goodbye forever.
Kaoru's fingers trickled over the white blanket barely touching the contours of Arian's, the dead boy, body. Tears no longer came now, but sadness lingered ever present, ever consuming, ever waiting to suck the life up of its victim and those around him or her. Despair like death hovered next to her heart dearly like old friends would, taking but never giving.
"I wish," Kaoru began laying her hand on Arian's blanket covered cheek. "I wish sometimes I had magical abilities. I wish I could find a cure for the Agony."
Kaoru sighed folding her hand into her other before glancing at Soujiro's smiling face. He too faced misery and pain so intense that pain became pleasure for him, and so he smiled. Kaoru tried to understand her friend but his depths were far too dark, too deep that if she dug far enough she would never escape his own darkness.
"Miss Kaoru, things are the way they are." He sighed lifting his arms in mockery. "You yourself told me that three years ago and I've taken it to heart. Please try not to change your mind."
Kaoru blinked amazed at how Soujiro's voice could sound childish yet so deep and deceptively sweet. Many a time she had seen the blood of his people on his pale hands, seen him smile through pain and it chilled her to the bone. Soujiro perfected the art of thrashing his emotions by placing them into those dark, inescapable depths he harbored.
Kaoru placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded. "Yes things are as they are, Soujiro, but I can wish and hope."
His boyish smile widened and Kaoru felt as though she had fallen into a trap. He constantly questioned her, followed her wanting to learn her thoughts. Kaoru could feel him probing her mind at times, with his magic, searching for answers that she did not have and he did not ask. It was as if Soujiro wanted to soak her all in, know about her soul and all, and it infuriated her to such an extent that one day he could no longer see inside her, no longer probe her mind. He never asked how and she never questioned how she had done it; the event remained unspeakable.
"Just as people hope and wish for Battousai?"
Soujiro's eyes sparked maliciously for a moment before laughing slightly knowing he caught her in a trap. Kaoru froze, her eyes strained on the man-boy in front of her before lowering her face. Outside the winter sky burned a bright blue. Outside a bitter cold wind rustled the barren tree limbs. Outside the fires of the rebel's sparked and snapped orange, red, and yellow. Outside serenity and life prospered for a sweet time.
"Hope and wish..."
"For Battousai," Soujiro said laughing putting his hands to his face like a child. Kaoru thought he was like a child in many ways, but in many ways not. Children held the capability to love; Soujiro lost that ability with his sanity.
"No, Soujiro," her voice firmed and he stopped like a child caught in mischievous activities. "There are two types of hopes and wishes. One kind makes a person weak and dependent, unable to stand on their own two feet. It makes them give up and place their lives and decisions onto another; it shatters the soul. Then there is the other, the kind which strengthens the soul, makes a man alight with fire and courage and purpose. Those are the two kinds I have seen within my life, and I have chosen the second."
Insanity sparked in his green eyes while firm shade of blue spread over her own, and Kaoru feared those insane green eyes in that moment. Beneath the surface of Soujiro's cover of sanity, his twisted logic loomed the insanity of his mind. Kaoru could see it through his eyes with every battle and death, with every jab meant to make her take back her own words. Never did it work. She was always one step ahead. She had to be.
"I'll remember that, Miss Kaoru, and I never forget what you say."
"I know, Soujiro. I know you never forget." Kaoru admitted walking out of the room.
She wanted to get away from Arian's body, from the memories of the boy who held a fancy for her and tried to win her hand on mere charm and laughter. Arain, the country boy with a vigor for life and land; Arian, the boy who she had seen grow into a man. Her hear pulsated in pain, and Soujiro's laughter followed.
"And I expect you never to forget what you say, Miss Kaoru, or else I'll be severely disappointed."
There was a threat in those words hidden by his gentle instruction. He was like a child asking for his mother not to forget a promise, but this child Kaoru knew could harm her and she was not sure if he would actually go through with any threat on her. At this moment in their relationship, he would not cause her harm, but Soujiro's personality could be compared to a tight wire which could snap at any pull of tension. Kaoru did not want to be that tension.
It would have been stupid to not fear this Oraian; stupid not to be cautious around him. Kaoru prayed every night that he would one day regain his sanity and have those depths of his be filled with light. It was one of her many wishes.
"Looks like a messenger is nearing," Soujiro said nudging her, and Kaoru looked out past their facility onto the makeshift road.
True to Soujiro's sight a person on horseback was nearing, fast. All around her the rebels became alive with motion scrambling around to secure their base just in case a trap was in store, but they did it on precaution only. Soujiro or Okina or one of the other Oraians would have felt a disturbance if anything was amiss.
Kaoru walked up to the entrance and waited until the horse rider neared and found to her surprise that it was a woman whom she had met once before, a woman known as Shura of the Water. She was known to patrol the seas with skill matching that of the Oraians themselves.
Okina came to stand next to her and Soujiro both, the rest of the rebels behind them, and waited until Shura jumped off her horse and briskly walked to them. Short green hair stood out against her pearl colored tunic while matching sea foam eyes pierced Kaoru with precision before a relieved but miserable smile blossomed.
"Okina," Shura began but Kaoru did not listen. There was nothing feminine in the women before her; she stood with a composure that spoke of strength and purpose, her back making her look like she had always carried an enormous weight all her life without ever slouching or relaxing. After an exchange of pleasantries with Okina, Shura's gaze switched to Kaoru once again and her face softened.
"Long time no see."
"Very long," Kaoru answered holding out her hand that Shura took in her own.
"I have a letter for you from your sister." Kaoru blinked.
Misao had been gone for two years now because of their separate and chosen paths. Once they made it to the North five years ago, they stayed by one another until their one road forked. Misao decided to remain with the northern rebellion feeling that her leadership was needed there while Kaoru felt called to join the rebellion in the West. They parted with no tears but memories knowing that they might never see the other again just as they neither heard nor saw Megumi.
Three sisters. Three chosen paths. Three separate lives from one another. Three choices to part forever.
"Our last attack," Shura continued, "failed. Our casualties were greater than usual and we were forced to retreat." Shura became silent for a moment and realization prompted Kaoru to look towards Okina, his face grim and lips tight. "The Hitokiri lead them."
Fear raced through her blood; Soujiro's childish beam mixing with her emotions was just as powerful as Okina's acceptance of the situation. Blood pounded in her ears, Megumi's voice whispered all around and a vision of Misao five years before spinning around their old home tore at her mind. Her sister...her sister...
"My sister...is she...is she alright?"
Shura said nothing, no emotion, nothing. A pit formed beneath her feet, dark and enchanting, sweetly and deceptively calling. No! It screamed, hissed, breathed. No! Her throat tightened, her muscles cramped, her world spun, and all Shura could say was, "I have a letter from your sister."
&&&&
"Her reaction was acceptable." Soujiro said gratefully taking a cup of cinnamon tea from Okina's hands, the older man revealing nothing of his thoughts. Shura cringed at the young man's dismissive tone but smile because she could think of nothing to say. When the news had been revealed, Shura could not bring herself to say anything more than that her sister wrote her a letter because the emptiness in Kaoru's blue eyes chilled her.
Yes, emptiness had been master of Kaoru's blue eyes before Soujiro stated, "Things are as they are, Miss Kaoru."
The woman with blue eyes only nodded and replied with the same sentence weariness in her voice. No tears had fallen from those eyes of hers; she merely withdrew her hand from Shura's own, turned her back, and walked away. Soujiro's eyes narrowed and he went to follow but Okina stopped him shaking his head. Craziness, some flash of light, blazed in Soujiro's face before the boy smiled and faced Okina with the same adoration as he had done with Kaoru.
Soiled innocence, that's what Soujiro was.
Shura played with her own cup moving it in a circle as Soujiro continued speaking. "She is amazing isn't she, Mr. Okina? She thinks she's so smart, and she is. She is, isn't she?"
Okina weary face nodded in reply. "Soujiro, I think it would be for the best if you stayed away from her for a while. Let the girl mourn."
A tension settled over the three and Shura felt her instincts command her to run, run far from that room, but she refused wanting and fearing to see what would happen. Then Soujiro's smiled changed into something Shura could never call happy. This smile differed from any other she had ever seen. Venom. That was the only word which could fit his smile - venom.
Her heart lurched, and a quick glance to Okina revealed that the man felt no fear of his fellow Oraian. He looked older in that instant, his gaze in another time and place, his emotions were no longer in the room but elsewhere. He held no fear and the pink hair tie capturing his beard made him look silly despite his solemn face.
"Miss Kaoru does not mourn. She says things are as they are; she does not cry over that."
"Enough, young man! Things are as they are but that does not mean she cannot cry over the present. I'm ordering you to stay away from her for at least today and tomorrow. She has no need for your company."
But the door had already close, Soujiro's venomous presence gone; Shura sighed in relief. "That man..." She began only have Okina stop her.
"Try not to show your fear, Shura, because it will only give that young man pleasure."
Shura looked around the room decorated as any middle class country home would be. Dark wood panels made the floor and walls, light green drapes hung from the windows, and cream colored furniture and tables, as the one they sat at, spanned the room.
"Does it fit your tastes?" Okina asked mentioning the room his stern expression replaced by a grandfatherly composure. The changes in this man amazed her just as much as Soujiro's own did, but instead of poison Okina's presence reminded Shura of times spent with her deceased father's arms wrapped around her during cold winters.
"I know you've been to the Sovereign City so this base must seem drab in comparison." He leaned forward. "Now tell me what happened in the North." Shura placed her cup down masking her face in a blanket of apathy. "Tell me of the Hitokiri."
A/N: Whoa! The last part of that chapter was about as hard to write as pulling out a bunch of teeth - bad simile. I had fun though and that's all that really matters. Now, now, don't be all made because of Misao's fate. Stay tuned to see what happened to her, kay.
When I was writing Soujiro I was freaking myself out, I hope I was able to communicate his character as I see him to you. I was trying to make him character but a more demented type of in character. Sorry if I confused you with that.
Thanks for reading!
Espiritus
