Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Fire ❯ They ( Chapter 3 )

Fire
© Kaz, 2003

Fire. The evolution of heat and light by combustion. The symbol of courage and passion. The symbol of destruction and death. Two people with fragile, scarred hearts discover its true significance in their lives --- through a confrontation they will never forget.

Fire.

It continued to eat up the ship that newly docked in the port.

It left the passengers on their own.

On their own, empty-handed.

"Just our luck,"a tall, young man with blonde hair muttered to himself with a closed expression before he turned to his companions --- who, like him, were empty-handed --- and smiled. "Vell, gentlemen, velcome to ze Land of ze Rising Sun, Japan. Quite an exotic place, isn't it?"

"Ver exactly are we?"

"I believe zis is ze place zey call Kamakura," he aswered thoughtfully, sweeping his gaze around the area. As he did so, however, he felt a sudden surge of pain through his heart, making him heave a sigh. Brings back memories, he told himself, before he back to the conversation they were having. "See zat peak over zer? Zat's Fujiyama, a volcano, and ze highest---"

He stopped, turning around.

Someone was watching him.

He didn't know who.

Or where the person was.

But he was being watched.

"Hey, Schneider, vat is it?" former Lieutenant of the Black Knights, Lenz, the young man's companion at their quest to find the so-called Divine Medicine a year or so ago, asked, flickering his gaze casually from his friend to the spot the other was staring at. "See anyone ve know?"

"Vy, Lenz, I don't see anyone at all," Schneider retorted in a sly tone before he returned his gaze to his friends and forced a smile. "Vat are ve going to do now? It looks like ve are going to be stuck here for quite some time. Should ve leave zis place and check out ze sights?"

"Zers an inn over zer. Vy don't ve check in first before ve go on zat tour?"

The stranded soldiers took out all the money they had left, put them together, and began planning on how they were going to spend it. They thought they were going to be back at their own land in a few weeks' time, as they had been in the Marianas islands, training for the war that was taking place between their country and Austria, but the accident in the ship that caused the fire and forced them to dock in a land so far away from theirs devastated them all. All but one, that is, for one particular young man thought that the situation brought about by the fire was an opportunity rather than an obstacle.

He turned to follow the rest, who were walking towards the nearby inn, when he saw something that made him stop.

A bat.

And it landed on his oustretched hand.

Schneider examined the creature carefully for a few moments. Then, his lips parted into a smirk as he continued to look at the nocturnal being. "I should have known ze moment I saw ze spot of black in ze sky," he said, not moving his head or his body to address whoever was there to listen to him. After a while, he chuckled. "Ze vay you deal vith people still fascinates me."

She stepped out from behind a pile of crates. "I deal with people selectively."

"Vich means I'm supposed to feel special for ze treatment you're giving me?" he asked, finally turning around to come face-to-face with the leader of the Sanada Ninjas, Misanagi Moriya. The woman he loved, yet was forced to leave behind. He grinned crookedly at her. "You know, I missed ze bats."

"You left this," she said quickly, taking his hand and pushing the earpiece he had left behind during their last meeting into his palm. Afterwards, she turned around to leave, apparently hurt by his reaction to the situation. She missed him, missed him terribly, and yet all he told her was that he missed ze bats. Part of her whispered that he was merely kidding, but a greater part of her refused to listen to those voices.

The playful smile on his pale face faded away to give way to a soft, sincere one. "But you know vat, Misanagi?" he called out, making the young woman stop in her attempt to run away from their confrontation. "I missed ze owner of ze bats ze most. Can you please tell her zat I vish to speak to her? Zer's something I vant to tell her."

However, that stop was only for a moment.

"Hey, vait!" he exclaimed, running after her. "Misanagi, I love you!"

She stopped.

He stopped.

Slowly, she turned back around, her eyes on the ground. Her tear-stained eyes on the ground. Then, she gradually lifted her gaze on him, until she her eyes were locked on his and his locked on hers. Her features softened considerably, just like that one moment that tore them apart for a year that seemed like eternity. "Oh, Schneider," she whispered, running towards him. She then flung her arms around him. "I love you, too."

"I know," he told her, grinning crookedly once again. "But I never got ze chance to tell you zat." When they pulled away from each other, he took her hand, and led her on a walk along the seashore. He was glad, very glad, that even if it had been a year --- give or take a few weeks --- nothing changed between them. They still loved each other. "How'd you know I vas here?"

Misanagi smirked. "Ze bats."

Meanwhile, a couple of meters behind them, back at the port, the ship that brought the German soldiers to the shores of Japan began to fall apart due to the fire that blossomed in its bosom. The people in the area began to run away, as fast as their legs would carry them, afraid to get caught in the explosion that was supposed to take place.

Out on the seashore, the waves playing with their sand-covered feet, the couple stood hand in hand, looking deep into each other's eyes.

Boom!

They spun around to look at what just happened, and then...

... they saw fire.