Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Unfinished Business ❯ Deja Vu? ( Prologue )

Unfinished Business

By: Jewels Light

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DISCLAIMER: I do not own Inu Yasha and company nor do I own Kenshin and the crew. As far as I know, the story idea is mine.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, hello everyone. This is not exactly a cross-over so much as being a merger of Inu Yasha and Rurouni Kenshin. You will see what I mean when you read it. I was watching Kenshin one day, and it hit me that there were a lot of similarities between the two shows. Maybe a little too many to be coincidence...at least in my mind. So this is what my imagination came up with. Let me know what you think. As always, read and enjoy! = D

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Chapter One: Deja Vu?

Kaoru's eyes snapped open and she found herself staring at the ceiling of her room as her heart thundered in her chest. The dream images were already fading away, and before long would be gone completely. Even now all she could remember were hazy faces and a swirl of emotion, with the exception of those eyes. They remained so clear that she could see them every time she closed her eyes. The emotions had ranged from warmth and friendship to heartbreaking sorrow and loss. There was also mind-blowing, body- numbing fear. And through it all were those golden eyes watching her intensely, shining with emotion and a faint whisper that she couldn't quite make out.

She sighed and snuggled deeper into her blankets. She wished that those hazy forms had been real. Kaoru Kamiya had been alone for much too long. Her father had passed away, leaving her to run the dojo. True, she did still have the students, but she felt alone most of the time...even if she were with a crowd. How long she would have those students was still questionable, as long as the Battousai the Manslayer roamed Tokyo killing innocent people.

With a gasp, she jumped to her feet. She couldn't just lie here while the Battousai was out there. If she could capture the Manslayer using the Kamiya Kasshin style, perhaps more students would enroll in the dojo. Kaoru quickly changed into her training clothes and pulled her long raven hair into a sloppy ponytail. Her large sapphire eyes were sparkling in anticipation as she grabbed her wooden sword on the way out the door.

She walked down the foggy, quiet streets of Tokyo, looking for her prey. Strangely, those golden eyes from her dream were haunting her. Why were they plaguing her like this? She had been having this dream now for about a week. Everywhere she looked, she saw those eyes.

Finally, up ahead she saw a figure in the mist. At his side swung the unmistakable shape of a sword. It was about time! She began running toward him quietly, and some details began to form around the stranger. His long red hair was tied back with a simple cord and he wore a white pants with a fuchsia colored shirt. Hmm...he seems rather...small to be a manslayer. Kaoru shrugged and took up a defensive stance before challenging the man in front of her.

"Hold it right there...Battousai the Manslayer!" She cried. He stiffened for a moment and then slowly began to turn so that he was facing her. She found herself looking into a pair of beautiful violet eyes and a wide, innocent smile. Those eyes seemed somehow familiar. "You are much weaker looking than I expected. Prepare yourself!" She shouted just before launching herself at the diminutive man. But suddenly he was gone. He had disappeared right in front of her eyes. "HUH?"

She turned in time to see him land on a bench. It gave out under his weight and he crashed to the ground in an undignified, ungraceful heap. She stared at him a moment in complete shock and then walked towards him slowly.

"Are you REALLY the Battousai? I heard that you killed more people last night."

"I am nothing but a wanderer. I am just a wandering swordsman, that I am." He picked up his sword, still in its sheath, and held it out to her. His amethyst eyes sparkled in amusement. "Do you really think that I could kill anyone with this blade?" He watched as the girl pulled out the sword and watched as her eyes widened in shock. Why had she expected it to be ancient and rusted?

"The blade is on the wrong side."

"This is a reverse blade sword. It cannot kill anyone."

"It doesn't even appear that it has been used. In fact, it looks brand new." Kaoru grudgingly agreed. So much for her hopes of catching the Battousai. She knew it had been too easy.

"So I have proven my innocence, have I not?" He asked with a wide smile. He looked so harmless and completely...safe.

"Look, you're wandering around here with a sword in a town that THE Battousai has been killing in night after night. How do you think it looks. Anyone would have been suspicious!" She didn't notice his dazed look as she continued to rant at him. Her frustration was easily vented as anger, one small flaw in her personality. "Besides, you know its forbidden to walk around with a sword in the Meiji Era..." Her tirade was cut short by the sound of whistles. Perhaps this time it was the real Battousai! "Something's happening!"

Without another word, she raced off in the direction of the alarm. He blinked after her.

"I wouldn't want to be the one that she is looking for, that I wouldn't." Then the dazed look dropped from his features, to be replaced with one of shrewd intelligence. The wanderer was gone as if he had never been, in his place was a swordsman. This was not one who looked safe. Every fiber of his being was alert and ready for action, and awareness seem to crackle around him. He quickly headed toward the sounds of battle.

When Kaoru reached the source of the commotion, it was only to find a large man with a covered face attacking a patrol of policeman. Without a single thought for her own safety she launched herself at the man. Her wooden sword was ready to strike, but she was pushed aside by the brute strength of the Battousai. She crashed into a nearby wall. Only when she took up her defensive stance once again did she notice that she had been wounded in her right arm. Her opponent closed in on her, and swung his blade, chopping her wooden sword in half. She stared at it with horror, before looking up into the eyes of the Battousai, who was readying himself to end her life with a powerful downward swing.

The next thing she knew, the wanderer was holding her close to his chest, almost protectively as he smiled down at her. Had he just saved her life? She looked over his shoulder to see that the blade that had been meant to end her life was now buried in the wall that she had stood against seconds before. How did he move that fast?

For his part, the wanderer looked down at the woman in his arms and was overcome by the feeling that he had done this before. That saving her life was a normal part of his day. Even stranger was the fact that an audio memory had risen to the surface. A memory of a conversation that he couldn't remember ever having, although it was definitely his voice.

"You mean that I should just give up?" A woman asked. This woman? No, that was impossible. He had just met her...hadn't he? From the tremble in her voice he could tell that she was either crying or very close to it. The next words proved that to be the case. "Stop crying! What I meant was shut up and let me protect you." He shook his head slightly to clear it. Even though this conversation must have taken place in dire circumstances, it still made him want to smile.

Behind him, he could hear the sounds of more whistles and the sound of policeman. He looked down at the woman in his arms again and shook his head.

"It is quite reckless to go into battle with a wooden sword when your opponent is using a real one." She glared up at him, but the words of the Battousai as he ran off stopped her angry retort.

"I am Battousai the Manslayer, and I used the Kamiya Kasshin style of swordsmanship!"

"What? NO!" Kaoru cried as she tried to extricate herself from the wanderer's arms. "He is ruining my family's good name!"

"Now, now, you are being reckless again."

"I'll show you reckless, you penniless..." and the remains of her wooden sword came crashing down on his head, dropping him to the dusty street. She glowered down at his prone form for a moment and then sighed. Her anger had gotten the best of her once again. She helped him to his feet and they stumbled back to the dojo. She was silently fuming the entire way. How dare that manslayer slander her family's name by linking them to his murders?

Luckily Dr. Genzai was at the dojo, so he could look after the wanderer. He didn't appear to be in that bad of shape, and he was now sleeping peacefully. She looked down at his serene face, marred by that cross-shaped scar, and smiled. He had put his own life in jeopardy to save her. He was a stranger and yet Kaoru felt connected to him in a way that she had never felt with another person. The least that she could do to repay him was to let him stay at the dojo, at least until he decided to wander away again. Now why did that thought make her heart feel heavy?

Since she couldn't do anything for him, she decided to take a bath. Soon she was settled chin deep in hot water. Kaoru soon found herself in the zone between sleep and wakefulness. There, she once again saw those lovely amber eyes, and this time she could make out the whisper that accompanied them. We'll meet again, I promise. And next time... we'll get it right.

"We'll get it right." she echoed softly. She didn't hear the door open but she did feel the cooler air that brushed over her heated skin. She opened her eyes only to have them clash with the wide eyed stare of the wanderer. She was in complete shock, and her mouth opened, only to spew out complete gibberish! Or at least it was in this context.

"SIT BOY!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. The wanderer's eyes widened even further before he dropped to the ground with a thud.

********************************************************************* < p>A.N. 2: So do I continue or not? Its up to you! I'll be waiting to hear what you think.

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