Author's Note: For those of you who recognize the name Oruku Saki, it has absolutely nothing to do with the original bearer of said name. Although it's nice to know I'm not the only big fan around here. Also the Okiba Gang Shinobi are most absolutely not original, although I made them humans.
Broken
Chapter 2: Shattered
There has been an awful weather lately, however today was exceptionally nice. Kenshin walked across the fields rather cheerful, after all he had just made a bunch of money working as a bodyguard for some rich guy named Oruku Saki. Who the hell knows what he does, but he sure does pay well. Now it was all just smooth sailing back home to get a nice well deserved rest.
All of a sudden he was hit by an awful scent, a familiar scent…death.
He looked around but didn't see anything.
He kept walking cautiously, searching for the foul odor's source.
A faint sound could be heard, indistinct at first but clear as the sky as Kenshin kept pressing forward. That's when he saw it…
"Please help! Anybody" A man cried between tears and sobs.
There was a lone man sitting in the middle of what used to be a battlefield. He was surrounded by corpses; most dismembered and reduced to small pieces the size of a fist. The stench was unbearable and got only worse as he closed in on the man pleading for help. He could now see that some of the smaller pieces had bite marks on them, human bite marks as if somebody had been chewing on them. As he moved even closer to the crying man he noticed that the amount of pieces with bite marks increased dramatically and he also saw that the man's jaw had a bright red color.
"This guy has been feeding on these corpses for days" Kenshin thought, slightly disgusted.
He could now see that the man's legs were both severely damaged, although not beyond recovery. That was just before he collapsed in exhaustion right in front of Kenshin's feet.
His legs hurt like hell, heck it felt like he was in hell. Aside from the blinding pain, he could also hear the moans and wails of many others. Maybe he WAS in hell after all. His eyelids were heavy, but managed to open his eyes. Ended up wishing he couldn't have.
His friends and partners lay on the floor, decimated. Some were even trying to put themselves back together literally. His friends, his family, an entire lifetime of loyalty an hard work and in the blink of an eye (it actually was that fast), gone, everything. The Okiba Gang Shinobi was no more, reduced to a few crippled shells that…
"Excuse me sir…"
He sat up straight, startled. To his surprise, hell was no longer his dweling. He now lay on a warm, cozy bed. The pain was no longer around his legs or eyes. In fact, he felt better than in any of the last few days. The young man who woke him up stepped out of the room and another one came in after a few seconds.
This second man was of average height, not too young but not old either. His skin pale and his hair crimson red. He also had an awkward scar on his left cheek in the shape of an X. That X…he knew it very well.
"How are you?"
"Are you the Hitokiri Battousai?"
"Nice to meet you too"
"Tell me!"
They just stared at each other for a few minutes. Then Kenshin let out an annoyed sigh, after all this guy clearly wasn't going to let him out of the hook.
"Not anymo…"
But the guy cut him off, speaking frantically.
"He's coming after you! He's gonna kill you!!"
Kenshin grabbed him from his shoulders and held him still.
"Calm down!"
"He killed my clan and now he'll kill you!"
"Who is he?"
"The man with the twin bladed sword, he's coming and he'll get us both".
All of a sudden he stood still and silent, as if having an epiphany.
"…The sword…"
Those were the man's last words before he stormed out of the room as if his whole life depended on it. Kenshin followed.
Author's Note: Well…what do you think?