Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Tale of A Girl ❯ An American in the Kamiya Dojo ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2: An American in the Kamiya Dojo

 

The next thing I knew, I woke up in a bed. I yawned and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I quickly looked around and, when I saw no one around, decided to go exploring. I found the door to the outside and looked around. From what I could tell, this place was set up like one of those old dojos that I'd seen in history books. I `scaled' a nearby tree and then jumped onto the roof from the top branch. When I reached the top I looked around, and was completely amazed. It seemed like the whole town was a giant carnival with a historical theme. Only there were no games, no people in normal clothing anywhere, it was complete and utter change.

It was then that I caught sight of him out of the corner of my eye. The same man that had found me after the storm. He was sitting on the large wooden door that separated the yard from the dirt street on the other side. He hadn't noticed me yet and seemed to be thinking deeply about something or other. I quietly made my way over to him, jumping first to the other side of the roof, then to a tree that was in the front yard, the a few feet from him on the giant door and sat down, looking in the same general direction as him. He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice me for the first few minutes.

Finally I broke the silence by quietly saying, “Thanks for taking care of me sir, I don't know if I would've made it if you hadn't found me and taken me in.”

He seemed to snap out of his trance and looked over at me, smiling kindly, “It was nothing, that it wasn't. You needed help, so my friends and I supplied it. We're just lucky I found you when I did. Miss Megumi said that much longer out there in the elements and you might not have survived.”

`Hey,' I thought, looking at him, `that name sounds familiar, and he looks familiar too.' I pushed it aside though and smiled back at him, “Well, let's just say that I'm not exactly used to being treated with such hospitality. Where I come from, I know quite a few people that would have left me to die. So, just, thank you.”

(I should note at this point that the strange man, everyone in this strange and new land, and I, while I was there, were speaking Japanese. It's only for convenience that I translate it for all who read.)

Back to where I was, I saw concern flash in his eyes, but I waved it off, “What's important right now is that I'm not there anymore, so, does my rescuer have a name, or do I keep calling you sir?”

He smiled and nodding in agreement to let the subject drop then simply said, “My name is Kenshin Himura. You may call me Kenshin.”

I nodded as I filed the name into my memory banks, with the strangest sensation that I'd heard it somewhere before. “Well, no offense, but I prefer to remain unnamed, but if you want to call me something…” I quickly looked around, glancingly noticing a small group of children playing some game with a ball, memories of home flooding back to me, “…then just call me Game. That's what I'm being called for the time being.”

He tilted his head in confusion at the name, but then nodded, “Alright Miss Game, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, I trust since you don't look like you're from around here that we will be honored with your presence for a while?”

I looked around at the strange new land that I had been dumped into, the blossoming cherry trees, the bright and dull colors of varied kimonos, and sighed, “Yes, it seems that I don't have much choice in the matter, and you're right, I'm not from around here, I come from the States…Kenshin, I know that this will sound strange, but what year is it? Let just say that I've been on the road for a long time and haven't really had a chance to look at a calendar for a while…”

He looked at me like he was trying to figure something out, and then said; “It's the tenth year of the Meiji Era here in Japan, does that mean anything to you?”

I was shell-shocked, and I'm sure I looked it; finally I was able to stutter out, “D…Did you say…the Meiji Era?” Kenshin simply nodded, looking concerned.

I quickly jumped down off the door, “I think I need to go lie down…” was all I muttered before staggering off towards the room I'd come from, but settled for the steps up into the dojo. My mind was racing, trying to make sense of something that in all truth should not be possible. I had known that the man had looked familiar. I glanced over at him again and noticed that he was looking at me, concern apparent on his face.

My mind kept saying, `It can't be him, it's just not POSSIBLE!' But every time I looked at him, I was more and more sure; this was the Kenshin Himura that I had known of for about a year now, without ever actually meeting him. This was the legendary Hitokiri Battosai, the Man Slayer. This was Rurouni Kenshin.

“As strange as it is, it all makes sense. He talked about `Miss Megumi' fixing you up; you're obviously in a dojo of some sort where everyone is living like it is the tenth year of the Meiji Era. Accept it. This is where you are.” A little voice inside me whispered.

A sarcastic smile flitted across my lips, `Well,' I thought, `at least nothing's going to take me by surprise.' I let a slow sigh escape my chest as I finally started to accept the reality that I had been flung into.

When I looked back up at Kenshin, a smile was on my face, and I thought `Well, I always said that I wanted to meet him…' before I flung myself into the new reality that was now my own.

It was about this time that Kenshin dropped from the door and walked up to me, “Are you sure you're alright Miss Game? A moment ago you were looking quite pale. Do you need to rest a little more?”

I smiled at him and said, “No, that won't be necessary, but thank you for the offer Kenshin, but you wouldn't happen to know if there are any spare kimonos around do you? I mean, I do look a little out of place…”

I chuckled in spite of myself for a second before being interrupted by quarreling couple that I had come to know and love through my TV “Leave me alone you stupid old tanuki!”

“That's a fine thing to call your instructor, LITTLE Yahiko!”

“GAAAH!! That's IT!” Is all I hear before I barely have time to dodge out of the way as the two came tumbling out of the dojo, Yahiko trying for all his worth to strangle Kaoru, while she was trying to do the same to him. I couldn't help but laugh at the pair, as I had always done when I watched them on the show. This, of course, stopped them mid-fight, Yahiko fending Kaoru's murderous hands off. They looked at me and disentangled each other from one another, Kaoru quickly asked.

“How are you feeling miss? I heard from Kenshin that he found you in pretty bad shape. You look well for having just washer up on shore two days ago.”

I smiled and said, “Thank you Kaoru, I feel quite well.”

Silence falls for a few moments before Kaoru broke it and I realized my error, “How'd you know my name? I don't think we've met, have we?”

I hastily called the knowledge I had of the show to mind and scrambled for a reason that I would know her name, “The nameplates! I heard you call yourself the `instructor', so I just figured that that was your name.” I said, quite pleased with the excuse that I had thought up of and going with it, even though I saw the doubt shine in Kenshin's eyes, “And from the yelling and the other nameplates, you must be Yahiko, right?” I said, bending down slightly towards the small Tokyo samurai.

Yahiko nodded, slightly doubtful, but he bought it enough to give me a chance. I felt awful, lying to them like that, but I feared that if I told them the truth that they wouldn't believe me and turn me out, or, possibly worse, they wouldn't believe me but would go along with it, nodding their heads while in their minds they thought I was insane. Though my heart told me that at least Kenshin would never do either of those things to me, my mind told me to play it safe, and in the end, my mind won out, as it always had since I left home. So, I lied, and quite effectively, though not so effectively so that Kenshin was convinced, but to my relief he did not approach me on it then.

He did ask me about it several years later though. Let's jump forward to that time, suffice to say that in my time at the dojo before that night was like the ideal dream that I'd been searching for since I left home. I made friends quickly with everyone and settled in quite comfortably, staying for five years, and long past the time when I continued to know what to expect from day to day. Sometime during our early adventures, I had been forced to reveal my gift, but somehow had gotten around divulging to much information about my strange past. I proved myself an excellent fighter and invaluable in numerous adventures for my fighting skills as well as for my unique abilities. I improved over the years through the tutelage of Kaoru, Sano, and eventually even Saito and Kenshin themselves.

Finally the night came when I told Kenshin everything. He found me looking up at the stars that night, tears in my eyes as I closed them and remembered how the sky had looked that night. That most horrible night of my life. I let out a small whimper and drew my legs towards me before I felt his presence behind me, both uncomfortable and comforting at the same time. I greeted him without bothering to look at him, “Hi Kenshin, couldn't sleep?”

I saw him sit down beside me out of the corner of my eye, and I continued to stare at the stars, almost pleading with them to take me back, but they stayed silent and cold as they always had in my time. It made me hate them, then that hatred turned inwards, as it always seemed to, and I started to think about how if I had just stayed home, just told my brother that I was too tired or that it was too cold, I could have stopped it somehow. I could have saved Mom from being burned so badly. Tears started to trickle down my cheeks as I berated myself, and suddenly I became aware of Kenshin's hand on my cheek, wiping away the tears.

I turned to look at him in surprise. He had the serious look on his face that until now I had only known him to use in battle. Somehow though, it was softer then that exact look, but still held its ferocity. “Game, I do not know what happened to you where you came from that weighs so heavily on your mind, but I do know that whatever you seem to feel you did, you aren't responsible. You once told me at the beginning of our friendship that you would not expect the kind of hospitality that we had showed you. I tell you now that if, after you leave this place to go back to the United States or to continue your journey elsewhere, you ever are treated with anything less then the absolute pinnacle of hospitality, then the offenders are ignorant fools that do not deserve your scorn, that they do not. And Game, I know the look in your eyes, I had the same look in mine for ten years. Let me tell you about why I did so that you'll understand how I understand how you feel…”

At this point I interjected, too tired and too worn out from years at looking at myself in contempt to continue the charade for any longer, “The first year of the Meiji Era, though you didn't know that it'd be the first year at the time that you would be telling me about, you were working for the Meiji government, taking out the most wanted enemies while staying in the shadows yourself. But this last year of that bloody war, it was different. It was both blessed and cursed. Because that year, the Hitokiri Battosai found love, but you lost it that same year, to your own blade. It was an accident, but you killed her all the same. Her name was Tomoe, right? It was then that the most famous Battosai laid down his katana and swore never to kill again. Kenshin, what does this have to do with how I'm feeling?”

I looked over at Kenshin then, who, for the first time since I knew him, looked completely thunder-struck, and waited until he shook his head and continued with his lecture, “The reason why I swore never to kill again was that I realized that hating myself for the tragedy would not made my beloved Tomoe come back, so instead, I thought about what she would want me to do. I realized that what I had to do, instead of moping about, was to make up not only for the loss of her, but also for all the men that I had killed during the war. You can do the same; you can keep others from experiencing the pain that you've come to live with. It would do more than you know to help you on the road to accepting that what happened wasn't your fault, or that you can at least atone for it, that you can.”

I scoffed at that, “The only way that I can atone for it would to go back in time and correct it myself.” I said as I felt the old feeling of self-reproach build inside my chest, and I had to blink to keep the stinging tears out of my eyes. I felt Kenshin gently cup my chin and lift it so that I had no choice but to look into his eyes. Surprisingly, I saw understanding shining in his eyes, the kind of look that only he could give that seemed to say `it's alright, I've gone through this pain and pulled through, you can too', along with the kindness that always seemed to be there when he looked at a friend.

Maybe it was his eyes that did it, maybe his words, maybe I was just tired of being strong, whatever the reason, I broke down right then and there; plunging into his chest, I let it all out. The pain, the hurt, the anger, the fear, everything. Everything that I had felt since I had left home but bottled up came out in that one outburst, tears running down my cheeks with no sign of letting up anytime soon. Kenshin seemed to be surprised at my sudden show of emotion, but sympathetically put his arms around me, patting me on the back, whispering, “That's it, just let it all out, that you should. Good cry.”

I have no idea how long we sat there, but finally when my shoulders had stopped shaking I heard him ask, “Out of curiosity Game, how DID you know all of that information about me? Have you heard stories of me on your travels?”

It would have been so easy to lie again and agree, but after what had just happened, it seemed even less right then before. I let out a shaky sigh before answering, “No Kenshin, not exactly. I'll tell you how, but you have to promise me something first. Promise me that you won't think that I'm insane or making it up. I'm telling the truth, and as strange as it may be, you have to promise to believe me, okay?”

I felt him nod and continued, more and more tumbling out as I kept talking, “I am from the U.S., but I'm not from the U.S. that you know. I'm actually from about 140 years in the future. It's not the best time, sure, we don't have to worry about rogue swordsman or anything, but for the most part, the swordsmen's spirit is dead. Chivalry is considered a thing of the past and most people look out only for number one, themselves. That self-centeredness has caused all sorts of problems, but most of those that made me unwelcome are ones that seem to have existed since the beginning of time, prejudice, hate, ignorance, they're all problems, especially for others like me.”

“Others like you? You mean in your time others can fly?” He asked in an obviously surprised tone.

I chuckled, “Not necessarily. When I say, `like me', I mean there are other's with gifts beyond those of normal humans. Beams that shoot from people's eyes that destroy anything in their way, telepathic powers, creating ice out of thin air, you think up of something weird and someone probably has the ability to do it. Compared to others I've heard of, my powers are nothing. And because we're so different, normal humans fear us and think of us as monsters.” I pause for a moment, keeping more tears from falling, “That's…that's why I had to leave my family, why I'm here instead of there.”

At this point I expected him to laugh. I honestly expected him to call me a little girl and tell me to stop telling stories. But instead, he simply softly said, “Amazing.”

I was shocked, but the comment gave me the courage to go on and tell him everything I could think of, “I found out I was `special' just about a year before you found me washed up on the shore. The first half of the year my younger brother and I researched and tested my newfound power. But people found out that I was different, and I suddenly didn't have many friends. Our house was vandalized many times and we got hate mail all the time, but my brother and I continued to test, figuring that we'd get that stuff anyways and we might at least get something good out of it.

“Then one night, heh, I remember it was so cold, the wind cut you to the bone. I finally got my gift under control. That night was the first time I flew, beforehand I'd just been able to jump really high. I'll never forget how it felt, as if I could do anything, that no matter how much hate the Earth might show me, the sky would always welcome me with open arms. I had just gotten back from my first flight when my brother saw the light shining over the trees. It turned out our house was on fire, and mom and dad were still inside. We rushed back and just as we got there dad came crashing out the front door, mom in his arms. He wasn't that bad off, but mom seemed to be nearly all burns. We went to the hospital and the doctors fixed her up a little, but she had to stay in the hospital.

“That night, sitting in the waiting room, waiting for the news of whether or not my mom was going to be all right; that was the longest night of my life. I woke up first thing when a friend of mine at the hospital came in and told me that Mom was fine. He told me to go on in and that he would stay in case the others woke up. I walked in and saw my mom, asleep, bandaged, hurt near-mortally, not because of anything she had done, but simply because of what I was and that she was related to me. It was then that I made the hardest decision in my life Kenshin, I decided to leave. I decided to leave my family, the few true friends I still had, my job, everything, for the simple reason that nothing I loved or cared about was safe while I was there.

“The rest of the year I went from town to town, trying my hardest to outrun the memories that haunted my sleep. Then, when I reached the ocean, I kept going. A storm hit me a few days out and from then on you know just as much as I do.”

At that point I sighed, leaning back and closing my eyes against the memories, careful to control my breathing so that I wouldn't start crying, “Sometimes…sometimes I wish that I could just forget, I honestly do. Sometimes I think that it would be better for everyone involved if my family and friends back home forgot I'd ever existed and I just assumed that I'd always lived here, with you and Kaoru and everyone else. These memories just hurt to much Kenshin. I can't even find comfort in the stars, because every time I look up I see the sky how it was the night I left, every star seared into my memory. My Dad used to take me outside when I was little and name the constellations off to me, it got so that I could recite them with him. Kenshin, I miss them all so much.” I choked back a sob.

“But, even if I wanted to go back, I couldn't, because I have absolutely no way home. I have no way of crossing time again, I don't even know how I did it the first time. On the other hand of wishing to forget, sometimes I desperately wish that I'd wake up to find myself in my own bed, my mom yelling at my brother to `keep that noise down, your sister's trying to sleep.', finding out that I'm late for school and running out the door, only to get caught by Dad who gives me and my brother a hug before shooing us out the door. Kenshin, as much as I love you and Kaoru and everyone here, sometimes, more then anything else in the world, I want things to go back to normal. I want to BE normal. But, they can't be, I can't be, because of some stupid thing that has to do with something that I can't even change.” At this point I can't keep the bitterness out of my voice, “As many times as my powers have saved me, as many adventures as they've put me on, as many wonderful people that I've met because of them, I'd trade it all for the normality that I once knew.

I'd trade it in a heartbeat for days being bullied at school because of my glasses, or worries about exams, uncompleted homework, and EVERYTHING. Just for things to go back to how they were.” After this prolonged outburst there was a period of silence, where neither of us said anything, I, trying to figure out if I had just doomed myself, and he, well, I guess he was just trying to soak up all the information that I had just dumped on him. I knew that I had left stuff out, like EXACTLY how I knew of him and such, but I wasn't in the mood to explain televisions, electricity, or anything else for that matter. In my mind, I had already explained enough, I was tied, and, for the first time since I had begun this strange journey, I admitted to myself that I just wanted to go home. Even though I knew that if, by some miracle I DID get back to my time, that for the safety of those I cared about I couldn't go home, I didn't care. I just wanted to curl up under the quilt my great-grandmother had made and sleep until I couldn't stay asleep anymore, and wake up to hear my brother yelling in my ear or giving me a Wet Willy.

“Game, I'm truly sorry for your loss. I had no idea that your family was still alive. That must have been a very hard thing to do, though I can't say that I'm surprised that you acted with such honor after knowing you as I have.” At he said this, I looked up at him and met his eyes, smiling, kind and full of pride. I smiled back at him through my tears.

“Heh, I never thought of it as something to do with honor before, I just knew that I had to leave or those I cared about would get hurt through no fault of their own. You know, now that you mention it, I guess it was kinda honorable, wasn't it? Doing whatever necessary to make sure that a problem doesn't involve anyone but you and the other person. I just asked myself what my mom would do in if she'd been in my shoes. She taught my brother and I that personal responsibility was more important than almost anything else, and I knew that I was personally responsible for what happened, even if it wasn't something that I could control.” At this point I looked down, biting my lip a little. “But, Kenshin, I think I'm getting tired of being the responsible one in a world where people seem to think that it doesn't matter how things that they do might affect others, as long as it makes them happy.” I said, slowly looking back up, my frustration and slight bitterness towards the world I came from, I'm sure, showing in my eyes.

Kenshin looked at me with a small smile before saying, “But can you really stop being responsible? If you were to, then you would let go of not only your honor, but who you are. Something that I always liked about you is your sense of duty, and that you will go out of your way to keep private disputes, private. I know many a man that would have made a big scene over issues that went near unnoticed because of the way you handled them. As a teacher, I am very proud of you, and as a friend, I am glad to see that my eye for good people has not dulled in the years of blood that I have endured, that it has not.”

I simply smiled at him then said, “Kenshin, thank you. Not just for tonight, but for everything, you, Kaoru, Sano, Yahiko, Megumi and everyone else here have been so wonderful, I can never thank you enough. I've had time to clear my head and really discover myself through all of you. I thought that I'd never laugh again after my house burnt down, but all of you have thawed my heart out. I can laugh and cry and be myself again. Thank you, and I'll never forget you for everything you've done, but, I think that I'm ready to go home now. My family will need me. Heck, with the wisdom that you've passed on to me would be, well, maybe not appreciated, but definitely needed. Plus, I'm just tired of running, and that's what I've been doing here, I've been running from my problems. I need to find a way home. Soon.”

Kenshin nodded and stood, “Do not worry Miss Game, all of us will do our best to get you back to where you came from.”

I looked at the moo and it seemed to glow brighter, and strange crystal-like lights seemed to be falling slowly from the heavens, and I smiled, “Thank you Kenshin, but I think I just found my way home.” He turned his head upwards too, and then simply nodded.

I slowly took off, flying backwards while I looked back at Kenshin, “Please Kenshin, tell everyone that I'm sorry, but I had to leave without being able to say good-bye to everyone. Tell them that I will always remember them and please, don't forget me.” I then turned around and shot off into the sky, off to meet the lights.

The last thing I heard as the lights around me brightened and I left that time that I had lived in for five eventful years was Yahiko's voice, he must have woken up because of Kenshin and mine's talk, because he called out, “Don't worry Game! We'll never forget you!” Then everything went white, then black as I slipped into unconsciousness.