Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ A Man and a Woman in a Rain of Blood ❯ Prologue

A man and a woman in a rain of blood

DISCLAIMER

Guess what, I neither own Rurouni Kenshin nor the characters! Well, but at least the story is mine.

Oh yes, I am not a native speaker, so if you find some mistakes, you may keep them. ^_^

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The girl.

In all this madness, in the chaos surrounding us and through the shed blood I feel her presence. She must have followed me until here, must have seen how I killed the onmitsu, how one murderer killed another one of his kind and surely she must have made me out for what I am.

She stands behind me but in spite of this I recognize her immediately, recognize the smell of white plum, which fills the air around her, this delicate smell I already registered in the dark tavern. My hand closes tightly around my katana. Nobody must live who knows of the existence of the Hitokiri Battousai...

"I followed you out of gratitude for what you did back there." The sound of her voice startles me so much that I nearly let fall down my sword. When the two roughnecks pestered her back then, she did not say anything, she just sat very quiet as if she did not care about what could happen to her and although she must know that this situation is far more dangerous for her, that she cannot expect compassion or sympathy from me, she continues to speak as carelessly as if she chatted about the weather. Perhaps my voice sounds just like this when I tell the Ishinshishi about a completed work, perhaps it sounds just as indifferent. "In plays they always speak about a rain of blood but you...you really cause the rain to bleed."

Finally my hand, perhaps with a knowledge that I myself does not possess yet, lets the sword fall.

I stare at her, stare at a serene face, serene in all this chaos, serene and indubitable beautiful in spite of the crimson blood drops which have streaked her cheeks. Deep dark eyes meet with mine and for one eternal moment the world around us fades away and lefts nothing back but the two of us. Then her eyes suddenly close. She slowly begins to pitch forwards and before I even think about it, I run forwards to catch her fragile body with my arms.

I wonder about myself when I gently clean her face from some of the blood. I should have killed her but I forgot everything when I looked into her eyes and now I can't do it anymore, not if God Himself ordered me to do so. Not after I found myself in the depths of these eyes.

Again I catch the smell of her perfume. Not good, I must be going crazy.

Tenderly I pick her up. I never before hold a woman in my arms like this; it is a strange feeling.

I guess I have to take her to Okami-san. Who knows what could happen to a woman alone in Kyoto at night. No, I really have no choice...