Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ A Simple Twist of Fate ❯ Prologue

It's a bit ironic that I post this story here, at this time of year. Just about two years ago, I posted it somewhere else and have worked on it bit by bit over the last twenty-four months. Now it has been erased and I must start from scratch…well maybe not quite from scratch. Hopefully it will fare well here as is has on another site that no longer welcomes me. With any luck, ya'll will be more gracious. Enjoy!

 

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It had all begun so innocently. But then fairytales always do. He had been nothing more than an arrogant prince being primed for the throne. He had courtiers at his feet clamoring for his attention. He had despised all of them. He was lonely. And bored. Boredom had been the most prevalent feeling at the time. He felt as though he had no purpose anymore other than to do what his father told him. Perhaps that was what had driven Kamiya Koshijirou out of the castle on that fateful day.

 

Years later when he thought about what might have been, he realized that could have been the defining moment. If the silly courtesan hadn't gotten in his way, he might never have left the castle the day he met the beautiful nymph of a woman who changed his life. Of course, he would never take it back either. Despite the destruction, despite the agonizing loss that occurred as a result of their union, he would not trade those precious memories for anything; except perhaps for the life of his child.

 

He had been sick of females wanting him for the crown, the power. He was tired of his father trying to use marriage as another political tactic. He had no desire to be a peasant, but at times he hungered for their simple way of life. They had hardships. He never wanted to be poor and dirty and begging for food, but he did attempt to appreciate the small pleasures life had granted him being born into nobility.

 

While those on the verge of starvation prevailed throughout the streets of his father's kingdom, Kamiya had also witnessed the simple joy they experienced. He had never been shy about giving out food or gold when he walked the streets. To see the faces light up knowing that perhaps they could stave off the cold for a few more weeks, gave him a sense of satisfaction.

 

The only other time he had ever felt anything akin to happiness was when his best friend and confidante appeared. As a child, Seijiro Hiko came for weeks at a time. Hiko had such a dry wit and always seemed to find trouble. Constantly they harassed the kitchen staff and left his tutors wailing. However, as his father had begun in earnest to groom him for the crown, he saw less and less of his friend. When they were fourteen, they had finally been separated for four years. Hiko had gone to learn a particular sword technique that was passed down only after an intense trial. Kamiya had been forbidden to go. He had his own way with a sword and for his father, the king that was good enough. Besides it was time for him to begin behaving like a prince and no longer as a ruffian.

 

Etiquette classes began along with history and politics. His only joy came when he was given time to work with his sword. He missed his friend. He wrote long letters detailing of the simpering women he constantly dealt with. The rigors of court were trying and he grew weary of the insipid happenings that occurred nearly everyday. The letters in return were short and to the point. Hiko missed him as well, but his training took up nearly all of his time. Koshijirou began to feel lonely and could find no one to fill the void in his life.

 

When his eighteenth birthday arrived, Koshijirou had begun to develop a cynical view of everything. He and Hiko finally met again. While the man still contained the same dry humor, his own outlook on life had changed. He was a hardened samurai, wielder of a deadly blade and master of an even deadlier technique. But it had been a strange comfort to have the man once more at his side. He had not even minded the fanfare when he had officially been declared heir to the throne. Yet the women continued to drive him to distraction and he could do nothing to escape them, short of picking a bride.

 

Two years he fended the hordes off until he at last could not take it any longer. He had snapped one day in the training yard and had nearly killed one of the silly chits watching when she tried to be daring and grope him while he rested. Still caught up in the throes of battle, he had whirled a blade at the poor girl's throat. He had barely prevented the flow of blood from her porcelain skink. That significant day still loomed clearly in his mind. He had told Hiko he needed a break and the man had agreed. So he had left the castle for a short stay in the woods, hoping the solidarity of the trees would bring him back to sanity.

 

As it was, he stumbled upon the woman at the spring completely by accident. He had startled her, but she had not run away in fear. She had been of striking beauty, long dark hair and piercing green eyes. Her skin was flawless. He found peace in her company and asked for another meeting. She shyly acquiesced and thus had begun his courtship of Eiko. Over time they fell in love and he at last revealed his true identity.

 

She had not reacted as he had feared, either running away or in turn, throwing herself at him. Then she told him her secret. While she was not particularly of nobility, she did come from a good family. Her sister's husband had died and she had left to live alone to nurse her broken heart. Eiko had come to ease her sister's pain and hopefully bring her back to the real world. Together, he and his new love had found their own happiness. Elated he had asked for her hand in marriage. She accepted.

 

The king had hesitated at first and then agreed to accept his son's fiancé. Hiko expressed his happiness for his friend by offering him a cup of his sacred sake. While plans were set in motion, a plot only worthy of the fates was revealed and everyone became powerless to stop it. Unknown to both Koshijirou and Eiko, her father had already betrothed her to a powerful and dangerous man. But to learn the prince was interested in his daughter's hand, particularly after the older child refused to even meet with another male, he quickly broke off one engagement for the seemingly better one. However, he forgot who had been dealing with in the first place.

 

Shishio Makoto was not a man to be trifled with. He dealt in the black arts and reportedly had sold his soul to the devil. To learn of the double cross, he flew into a rage and demanded audience with the king at the wedding. There the king attempted to placate the furious wizard to no avail. Shishio left, vowing to return. Koshijirou and Eiko were married, but not without unease. After four days the king was struck with a curious illness. He was dead before the end of the month.

 

Quickly engulfed in the matters of his kingdom, Kamiya, now king, soon forgot the threats, veiled, and those not so veiled, by the sorcerer. Hiko became head of his guard and councilor and began to leave on long trips scouting the country for any signs of discord. When the new king first began to hear tales of skirmishes on the outlaying villages he dismissed them. Eiko by then was pregnant with their first child and he was caught up in the pending birth.

 

They were blessed with a little girl. Her christening was a big event in the palace and the surrounding area. Even Hiko returned, a young boy in his company. When Koshijirou jokingly asked, the tall man flatly denied parentage, stating something about the young child spoke of great things to come, thus he had begun to train the boy. To look at him, it was apparent. With fiery red hair and strange colored eyes, the young boy carried himself with a quiet dignity rivaled only by the man who claimed his guardianship. It had been a happy day, the last for a long time to come.

 

For several years he had begun to feel it. An uneasy quiet came to fall over him and his young family. Shortly after his daughter's third birthday, the world came tumbling around them. Shishio appeared in court, catching everyone unawares. Declaring war and wanting vengeance for the humiliation granted to him by the breaking of his betrothal, he slew Eiko while Koshijirou watched in horror. The mad sorcerer had then turned to destroy his daughter, but the young redhead, the ward of his friend, had charged in and saved her, drawing the fight towards him. Shishio had fled, but not before openly declaring war and his desire for the life of the child he felt should have been his.

 

Blood flowed throughout the lands, Shishio's army slaughtering all those in his path. As it seemed the end was near, Koshijirou sent his only source of comfort, his daughter, away into her aunt's keeping. He bade the woman to stay away until the death of the wizard and only to return when he was gone. Otherwise, she was never to contact him lest she innocently reveal his daughter's location. With tears of grief for his wife's death and the loss of his child, he watched the woman disappear into the night.

 

For five years, the carnage lasted. Somehow, Hiko always managed to stay one step ahead of Shishio. His own charge, trained in the same sword style as he, rose in the ranks and his name was muttered in fear and awe among those who fought. Then at long last, Shishio was defeated, his own stronghold burned to the ground. The body was never unearthed, but the ashes revealed little. At long last Koshijirou dared to hope; his daughter was safe.

 

Day after day, night after night, he awaited the arrival of his sister-in-law and his daughter. But they did not come. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. He realized his own fallacy of not demanding to know where the woman was taking his child. He could not find her and she obviously was not coming back. He fell into despair, his bitterness eating at him slowly. He began to withdraw and Hiko began to deal with the affairs of state. Even the young man under Hiko's care, bitter and cynical with the bloodshed of the wars fled the kingdom, vanishing into the surrounding lands. The king found no comfort in the women of court and he longed for the days of his innocent youth when he had been spoiled and had not known the hardships of life. Yet he would not give anything to not have the memories of his beloved Eiko and child. Once more alone, he waited, the years weighing down on him, in the hopes that his daughter would find her way back home.