Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Abandonned Waters ❯ Chapter one: The Girl Who Found Misery ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter one. The Girl Who Found Misery.


“Unreliable bitch!” the man threw a food tray at the girl, “I told you to bring back sake, and you come back to me with empty hands! Kuso!”

“We…we have no more in the house.” She mumbled quietly.

“Bullshit!” the angry man flipped over the table and furiously pointed his thick finger at her, “Ingrate! After all I’ve done for you, this is how you treat me!”

She tried hard to hold her surging tears back, but couldn’t help the emotion, “I…I…no more…can’t.” she produced quick gasps in between words, “I’m not…not…”

“Not what? Haha! Say it! Tell me what you’re not!”

“Mm.” the girl gritted her teeth, “In-ingrate…”

“Shut up!” he screamed at her, “Don’t tell me what you are or are not! I’ll tell you who you are and you better play your part in this family or else!” The girl started to sob loudly, uncontrollable tears sprung out openly. “Teme! Get out of my sight before it beat you to death!”

The girl flung herself around, and started to run away from the place filled with terrible memories. She ran through the rice fields and onto open ground, controlling her pace.

“Why? ...Why?” she cried as she stopped to get on her knees, “Have I done something so wrong…? Must god punish me through my family?”

Was she spoiled too much with affection? Life was so perfect before all the madness started to happen. Her family was always there for her… But ever since the death of her parents, the barbaric man, who she is shamed to call uncle, took over the family, fortune, and estate. All her other three male siblings died right after her parents. As much as he denies it, it was her uncle that fed poison to her little brothers. She was the only one kept alive to cook, clean, and sow around the house.

On some days, she wished to die. Each passing moment her will power grows weaker and weaker, almost to the point of suicide. If only she could run away… She could, but with her emotions in the way, the thought was hopeless.

The girl looked up ahead; she heard running waters and saw a bridge above it. Provoked, the girl headed for the passage.

She remembered one time, when she and her father were on their way to his friend’s home. They stopped by the river, and he’d tell her a story about it; a moral and myth of how it came to be. It was about a little girl named Katsumi, who one day gave into a beast’s offer to take some food from a ditch on the ground. Ignoring her conscious, everyday she took a little until the food was almost gone. Then one day, Katsumi took the last crumb of food, and then water sprouted from the hole. It rose from the ground immediately and flooded everyone’s homes. The food wasn’t worth it at that price, it was tempting, but it ruined her life… Otousan told her never to give in to the demon. Sometimes the demon takes some of your good conscious, but one must fight back to gain control, and true happiness...

The good memories never fade, unfortunately, the bad ones don’t either. How would her father look at her now? A girl who wants to give up life and everything he’s taught her.

She looked down at the sparkling water, and wondered if life was really worth it if it wasn’t going to change. No doubt, she was going to work for the rest of her life for that monster, compassionless for humanity, and cruel both ways.

“I am weak.” She said, “Why can’t I be strong? I can’t defend myself, I can’t help but cry.”

She watched the current go. Then something caught her sight…If she wasn’t mistaken, there was a shoe being carried of by the water. The girl went to investigate what was under the bridge, or possibly a who. And to her surprise, there was a boy wearing blue lying on his chest, half of his body was in the water. She rushed down the slopes to check on him. Hesitant to touch him, the girl first tried to communicate, “Sir, sir? Are you alright? Hello? Sir?”

Soujirou grunted and opened his eyes, the first thing he could do was smile, the river was still in his sight. The girl help him up, though he hadn’t faced her, he heard his response and immediately reacted, “Are you okay? What happened?” Soujirou sat leaning on the stone wall, and looked at her. She faltered, he was so handsome, and that made her hesitate, “H-hello, my name is Hyashida Kikari, douzo.”

Soujirou watched her for a while, Why does she look so familiar? “You’re- uhm.” He squinted at the sudden pain in his head, and tilted his head backwards.

“Sir? Sir! Are you alright? Sir!” Kikari shook him gently, but with no positive results.

Soujirou could only think of a river, and a sad, lost boy…
Converting /tmp/phpSVKWCe to /dev/stdout