I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU!
My first review and it MUST be the nicest one I've ever! Way better (and sooner) than I EVER would have expected! YOU, WHITERABBIT5! YOU ARE THE REASON THIS SECOND CHAPTER CAME UP SO FAST (okay, it's also cause I know my chapters are short so I try to update fast anyway but I swear the moment I saw your review I began writing this even though I'm supposed to be doing my history homework. Heh, Heh…) And holy shitake mushroom! You have THIRTEEN STORIES (eyes pop out) how do you do it?
And, I LOVE YOU ACCOLAY! Because, yes, I do suck! IN YOUR FACE! ... Also, I can't believe you read my story, FLYING TACKLE!
Last time:
He was walking into the forest. He couldn't face it. Her fear, her sympathy, himself.
And
She finally fell into an unconscious sleep.
Okay, I'm following Kenshin for now… actually I'll be following him for a while… maybe for ever. I hope the first chapter wasn't too confusing. '
Walking on
Already midday
Walking through the streets of Tokyo he looked towards the south. The sun was bright as it shone from the middle of its sky down upon his sinful sword.
Where could he go? He would never be accepted, didn't want to be accepted- didn't deserve to be accepted.
A wave of emotion washed over him as he stepped out of the shadow of a dojo and into the sun. It was not a wave of self-pity, but of guilt.
Tomoe
Could he start again? Try once more to play the part of rurouni while hiding his hitokiri nature deep within his soul? But, was it really that deep, that well hidden?
Ten years he had escaped bloodshed and still he had hurt people, left them lonely in his wake. Ten years since he had last been so blinded by his own desire to kill that the people around him were like whispers in the wind.
It was like before. He had pretended to fight only for the end of an age, for people's well being. Wished he could fight as an indifferent government weapon, but he couldn't.
He looked down at the black sheath dangling at his waist. He had washed it well, the sword too but…
Blood… the scent lingers, the feeling sits at my waist driving me to insanity.
Tomoe
I promised to protect you, failed in such a thing as simple as that.
I promised to live for you, even as you died, to live and suffer, bare the repercussions of my crimes and make amends.
I thought I could, I thought that maybe, even if only a small fraction, that I could make up for the despair I have caused but…
This is not my nature. I made the promise to you… for you.
"Once a murderer always a murderer"
The words drifted back to him. He felt no remorse as he remembered the slowly fading laugh of the dying man.
Hitokiri
That was him, through and through.
He watched the sun as it began to set
"You can not escape the blood, you can only live and die and all that must be by the sword."
And still I know not how to live. Ten years, I carry this sakabatou and seek the answer
A hand reached up. Pulling it away he found what he had expected.
A stow trickle of blood ran down and between his fingers.
The sword, it is a necessary thing for me. I cannot escape the bloodletting of my youth, cannot forget the feelings embedded in this scar. No, I must continue to try… try to atone for past sins
And even as this went through his mind, he knew it was not a part of the past, but rather a present battle residing within himself, churning his very soul.
And still he walked on. He did not know where, he did not know why. All he knew was that he must go on. Go on living, go on walking, go on-
"DRUG-PUSHING WENCH! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE WE'VE GONE THROUGH TO FIND YOU? AND NOW YOU RUN?"
The drawing of a blade, the separation of air… all could be heard, the very style used could be detected from the patterns of this swordsman steps. And yet such inexperience…
A woman, common enough, came running through the alley at that exact moment.
It would be easy enough to beat whoever her pursuer was, to save the helpless girl... but
Could he control himself?
A shadowed face lifted as the thug came running through.
He mustn't draw, must not even inflict enough damage for the man to could up blood, it must be quick.
One eye was now unveiled, it glimmered gold.
He had his guidelines… he must adhere to them, must-
The man was upon him. Ten seconds and a quick punch to the temple had knocked him out… or, had it done worse?
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"
He had forgotten the women
She hurried over to the unconscious man
"ARE YOU JUST GOING TO LET HIM DIE LIKE THAT?"
Wa-what?
Looking down he found the man's forehead dripping blood.
Indeed, the temple is a vital spot. Hand to hand fighters of the bakumatsu were able to take out a man in one blow though obviously not defend.
Wait…
He looked down again
One night. Had he killed another…? Already?
"BRING ME WATER, BANDAGES AND ISHADA POWDER (A/N: don't know any herbs, just though of Saito selling this in the seventh book) NOW!"
She looked at him.
"TIME IS AGAINST US! Hurry unless you want Kanryu and his entire army including the personal guards he's hired to come after you! I thought a brave man like you, carrying a sword, would be able to protect me but look how much trouble you've caused!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
She reached her hand down to check the mans pulse, finishing this, it flew to the head where she held a piece of ripped cloth to the temple in order to slow the bleeding before applying the bandages.
A shadow came over the woman as she was wrapping the man's head. It shrank as the man owning the shadow leaned down, then grew again as he stood back up.
"And what's this Megumi-san…? Could it be… OPIUM! LIKE THE STUFF YOU MADE THAT KILLED MY FRIEND!"
Kenshin's eyes sprang open.
Was that-?
To be continued…
Idiot: HA! Bet I left you a CLIFF HANGER! Who is that man?
Wasabi: … Actually, almost any idiot would know the man was-
Idiot: Shut up! Anyways, now people know I am RELIABLE and WILL UPDATE CONSISTANTLY (as long as I don't have an essay or test that week… not like I have an English essay due tomorrow or anything… blah) so here's your fricking chapter, REVIEW! (I swear the more I get the faster I'll update, I appreciate the 100 people who have peaked at my story, and I appreciate the ones that actually read it the whole way through, but I like REVIEWS MORE.
Wasabi: and so, she says until she gets five reviews she won't update… high demand, I know
Idiot: plus it'll be another long chapter like this one; it is long… isn't it?
Editor: hah- you, reliable? (Cough) BS (cough)