Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Of Legendary Creatures and Mystical Beasts ❯ Encounters ( Chapter 2 )

I do not own Rorouni Kenshin, bla, bla, bla...(Ah…You already knew that…Good)

Note: Be warned. It will include violence, some use of profane language, and will include some extent of explicit sexual contend . So keep on reading at your own risk.

The story begins few month before the events of Kyoto Arc, so it will include spoilers and some elements from it as well as from the Revenge Arc too, although my fic will not follow neither the anime nor the manga, and I will break some rules

Please Review and comment it! I need some feedback…Onegai…

Remember I'm not a native English speaker, so if you do have complains about my spelling, please, don't flame me, but help me to improve...

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She went running all the way to her retirement place.

Running out of time, she traced a magical circle with iron powder and salt, and to avoid any detection she secured the circle placing four Phoenix feathers in each of the cardinal points, lighting candles made of unicorn's grease.

It was a perfect and secure place to put the human avoiding unnecessary risks. She only had to worry of him never leaving the circle till he was in full condition for his come back to human's realm.

She sat just on the middle of the circle, and collected all her strength to get him there. She only hoped it wasn't too late and to avoid unpleasant predators in her room.

After two failed attempts, she succeeded on the third one. Shaking all over for the strenuous job, she leaned over the motionless body before her.

He barely breathed.

He has blisters all over his body, his skin cracked and bleeding, his lips swollen and broken…Besides, two large and deep sword cuts in his side were infected, although not bleeding. It will take a long while to get him over his feet again, even using magic.

She put his head on her lap to let him drink some water. He was barely conscious and he was babbling in a quite uncommon language for the place he was wandering at : Japanese. He could drink by himself, although she had to calm him down to avoid him chocking with the urge of quenching his thirst.

After a short while, the young man, maybe in his middle twenties, slipped on sound sleep, out of exhaustion.

She look at him closely jumping at the realization of her having to bathe him to take care of his wounds properly. With a deep sigh, he started to undress him, carefully enough to avoid to deepen his scars, since his clothes were stuck fast to the open wounds.

Apart for his miserable state at that moment, it seems that the man was heavily trained on any kind martial art, a true warrior, his carefully build body, his firm and well toned up muscles, gotten only through the hardest kind of training told her so, as well as the scars from past battles scattered here and there.

She blushed a furious shade of crimson, when she took his last piece of cloth. She had never seen any adult male naked before. After all, she was still a young girl at her second century old, as the Elders had told her before. She knew, though, that her cousins used to go with men of their own kind once in a while, but she never tried it, since she disagreed with the whole idea of males being outcasts only useful to pleasure or reproduction. She was indeed a headache to all conventional standards of her Realm, but she couldn't help it. She would go to a male only if she met him before, and to keep him at least as a friend. And that idea was a mortal sin there, so she prefer chastity to became the reason behind any innocent's death. Pleasure or even reproduction was not worth taking any life. Besides, she would never surrender a baby boy born from her to be banished or killed because of his sex. Elder's laws might have useful in a time of anguish and desolation, but those times were long gone. Now those rules were outdated and cruel, and she couldn't help but to rebel herself against them.

She sat him inside the large tub she used to bathe herself. He was too far too heavy for her so she had to use her magic. Avoiding to look at the human's nakedness, she blew on the tub trice and warm water began to pour into it. With a clean cloth she started to rub him carefully, taking apart the loose skin on the open blisters. Soon enough water was a bloody mess so she blew again twice and the water was gone an replaced with fresh one. She had to do it trice, till she got only soapy water on the tub.

Then she took him out of the tub and wrapped a towel around his body to rub him dry. She covered his blisters with medicinal and magical ointments. They would be gone in a matter of hours, without any trace of being there at all. The sword wounds were an entire different matter, though.

It was almost incredible that he had survived such infection and bleeding. In normal conditions it would be hard to believe it, but being lost in the desert…Quite remarkable…Of course it had to be the share of mystical beast inside him, which saved him long enough to be noticed by her. No common human male would survive such conditions.

She was confident enough that her magic and the potions would work on him pretty well to get him recovered soon enough to get him back on his realm just before anyone, specially the Elders, could be aware of his presence in there.

The fever would be gone by the morning and the infected wounds will take some days to be recovered. Two weeks at least to them to fully close, and to recover his strength to be on his own again, but although the schedule was pretty tight, she was certain he'd make it.

Asiyah only hoped not to run out of luck, and to get him ready for his come back just before the Elders could have any hints of her disobedience.

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In some place inside the worst den of corruption in China, known by people as the demon city of Shanghai, a short fat man called Wu Heishin rubbed his hands in sheer pleasure.

After many years under the shadow of his powerful associate, Yukishiro Enishi, he could enjoy real power. He was no longer Number Two.

The fact of dropping his former boss' whereabouts to the right ears after his successful and profitable last trip to Dunhuang, on the Silk Road was a brilliant master plot, carried out as an innocent slip of the tongue, to avoid further suspicions.

He hated that bloody arrogant bastard, but he already was too dangerous to bear as an ally to have him as a foe. The very thought of the merciless, powerful and fearless assassin being deep buried on a Western China desert, as the meal of little disgusting bugs satisfied him greatly.

Ah, again brain was superior to muscle and strength!

He knew the thought was not entirely right, since Yukishiro Enishi was cunning and slippery through the years. It has to be that way, since he got his place among the great bosses of Shanghai Mafia at a very early age, maybe the younger boss in history. It was utterly impossible to reach such level relying only on killing talent and brute force.

But he was gone now.

Dead.

He had got rid of him, at least.

He gave a sigh of relief . The guy was creepy to say the least. He had thought of him over the years as a bit insane, his obsession over his dead sister and his revenge over her killer (his own brother in law) eating him from the inside.

But despite this fact, it can't be said he was a madman, at least not enough to get rid of him without facing troubles coming from the other bosses, always suspicious of subordinates who grew too much ambitious for their own good.

They were not the kind of people you want to upset.

He walked to the wide room where his now deceased boss carried his business over the past years, and he sat down on the smooth comfortable black leather armchair just before the large mahogany desk. He put his short legs over the carefully polished surface his boss look after so dearly. He could even imagine his blind rage at the sight if Yukishiro was able to see him doing this from Hell

Little vendettas was really pleasurable things.

The sound of his laughter echoed through the great house, while servants weave their heads in disgust. They had the feeling that their new master could be even stranger that the former one…

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There were no incidents on the last three weeks.

Every time the man wake up from his slumber, she put him to sleep again. She only allowed him to stay partially awaken at the time of his meals, to avoid him chocking with the food. It was safer to keep him this way, as much as for his own recovery as for security measures, to avoid him to step out the magical circle around the place, which would disclose his presence to the Elders.

It was very embarrassing and uncomfortable to take care of him as a quite huge baby, but it was a lot better than to face banishment from the Kingdom.

As the days went by, her decision over saving him grew more and more confusing to herself.

She always had a deep curiosity over humans, and once in a while she ventured to their realm to study them. Once, she spent ten full years on Isfahan only to learn how they lived…

But she felt it was different now. It was not sympathy nor curiosity or pity.

She could feel something eerie on this human, something that makes her hair stand on the ends but attracts her to him as a magnet at the same time. It was something odd and she couldn't say what was it.

This feeling and the fact of the Elders prohibiting her to act to save him was enough to rise on her the exact taste of temptation and adventure to push her to this point, risking all she had for a stranger who she would never see again for sure.

She sighed and look over the subject of her new worries.

He was almost ready to his come back. His wounds healed quicker than she thought and he seemed strong enough. Just a couple of days and she'll put him on Beijing, from where he could manage to get back to her destination, whatever it was.

She found quite curious the fact of him not being Chinese but Japanese. It was uncommon to find Japanese people so deep on Chinese territory. They used to stay on the cost.

She still was wandering about this when catastrophe knocked at her door.

The Elders gave her a visit.

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He woke up startled, jumping to be sit on which seemed to be a futon.

His head was spinning and he was not aware of his surroundings.

Last thing he remembered clearly were those God damned vultures flying over his bleeding, fallen body.

He seemed to be on a tent, all alone.

He looked at himself carefully. He couldn't believe his eyes. All his blisters were gone, not even traces of any scar from them, and his sword wounds, carefully wrapped on clean clothes, was almost healed. It was pretty clear he was unconscious for quite some days, even weeks. And those who had rescued him was really caring about his well being and health during those days.

He closed his eyes and sensed all around him seeking for hostility, danger or potential treats around him.

He felt a very uncommon, powerful, strange ki. It was the most strange feeling he ever experienced, but it seemed not to meant any danger to him. He had to locate it, thought. He couldn't allow himself being caught again.

The presence was outside, not too far away.

He collected all his strength, supporting his weight on every object he felt fit for it, his muscles trembling for the lack of use during the past days, and went outside.

He was received by the cold night of the desert, full moon shining on the sky.

There were a camel fully loaded, its knees bent and tied to avoid him to escape, and the most beautiful two Arab horses he had seen on his entire life was tied to a pole on the sand.

While he was staring them, wind brought him the sounds of a song. A song sung by a feminine voice, as it seemed.

Events turned even stranger by the moment, he thought, since he couldn't reconcile the feeling of the powerful ki he had felt with the image of a woman. Anyway, he didn't feel other presences around.

Reeling on his feet he forced himself to the place the sounds came from. He indeed found a woman in there and, yes, the ki belonged to her.

He found the whole picture totally out of reality. A quite petite woman, with the most exquisite voice was singing the saddest song he ever heard in a totally unknown language, just in the middle of the deadliest desert on Earth, but besides she had the strong ki of a warrior.

He thought he was suffering another illusion of the desert . He waved his head as to get rid of the vision, but she was still there.

Suddenly, she turned her head. She muffled a cry on her throat, surprised at the sight of him standing there.

His legs betrayed him and he fell to the sand on his knees.

She rushed towards him and stopped his falling on his face.

Using her as a supporting staff they made to the tent again, where she helped him to go back to the futon.

- Who...are…you? How...did I …get here?- his voice was hoarse, dull, by the lack of use, as the rest of his body. He repeated the answer twice, in perfect Mandarin and then in Cantonese, hoping she could understand any of those languages.

- It was sheer imprudence to get up from the futon, not to mention to walk outside. You should not move. I …only went outside for a little while. You should have waited for me to come back. Well, no harm done here. At least you are awaken now ...- she answered him in clear unaccented Japanese, and strange as it was, it took a while to collect the meaning of the words. It was a long time since he had the chance to hear his own native language, not to mention to speak it. He reached the point of almost forgetting it.

He was clearly stunned. He was actually a Japanese man. But she was obviously not. The snow white skin (so strange for a desert woman) and the strange green eyes was from gaijin woman. And gaijin did not distinguish between Japanese and Chinese, although the many differences on their features. It was clear she was aware of these differences. And who the Hell was she that she even can talk Japanese in that God forgotten place, where nothing but bandits and greedy merchants flourished? He did a mental note: he had to investigate the fact when his brain was in better conditions.

- How- did- I- come-here?

He marked purposely every single word. He wanted answers, and he wouldn't take anything less. To make the point clear enough he locked his eyes on hers with a deadly serious gaze. Granted, he was quite grateful to her and her people to save his life, but he was not in place to risk himself unnecessarily.

He felt himself baffled at her when he saw the joyful glint behind her eyes. She meet his eyes without a hint of fear. He wondered about his condition. He had to be as miserable as a beaten dog, so he can't even scare a little desert girl. He growled in frustration.

But he noticed she had the most peculiar eyes he'd ever met. They were emerald green, with golden flecks dancing deep on them, and he would swear she could hypnotize with them.

She was not an ordinary nomad. In fact, she was not an common woman at all. He felt an unease sensation growing in him at her. He was unarmed and weak, and although she was a petite woman who in normal circumstances would only serve to amuse him, everything warned him not to be guided by external looks.

- I found you when you was about to be eaten…I didn't think it was right so….

- Where are the others?

- You were all alone...

- No...I meant your friends, guardians, family, whoever is with you here... the caravan... It is quite obvious you are not alone. No woman can survive on her own on the desert, just in the middle of the Silk Road, not to mention to load a camel, and keep an eye to two horses and a injured man, without any help.

She seemed to be taken aback. After a short while she answered him .

- Well, I was traveling with my brother to Dunhuang, with three camels fully loaded to sell our Persian goods there. But in a stop I forget to tie the knees of the camels and two of them run away. So my brother went after them, and ordered me to stay here, with you, the horses and the third camel. This is the path of caravans so I should not be afraid of losing myself in the desert if he didn't return soon. He told me that if he didn't come back at the time of a new caravan going by us, then I had to try to wake you up and follow them to Dunhuang, as was planned. He would meet me there then, were our family is although I'll ask them to come back for him. But I think it is too dangerous for a woman to stay alone in the desert. There are bandits, and many risks. I assume you are quite recovered now, so if we found any caravan coming this way, I suggest we should try to go with them.

- Ah.... I see...

The answer was odd in a way, although not quite impossible. So he took it . For now.

- Are you hungry?

- Quite...

She gave him a rice bowl . It tasted awful, but after years after the Bakufu forces in Japan and the rotten flesh he had eaten during his first months on Shanghai, he was not a gourmet anymore..

- How long since you found me?

- Near three weeks.

He was so surprised that he chocked with his food. And soon enough he found her helping him to regain his breath.

< Three full weeks... Heishin …That bloody bastard is surely celebrating my death by now... he had better not ruined anything during my ... vacation>

- What is your name, little one?

- Asiyah...and yours?- she gave him a death glare at the comment, which amused him very much. He couldn't scare her, but he could annoy her. Good point to be recorded on his brain.

- Enishi

It was enough to give her his given name. He didn't know who was she for sure (or her mysterious brother, as a matter of fact), nor if he can trust them at all. They could be planning to sold him to any of his enemies, as far as he knew. He was already ambushed during his trip, so he had no reason to be confident in anyone, lest in people he never met before that very day. If they were truly helping him, then he will care for them to be rewarded in a way they would never forget. If they wanted to betray him, he would not let them to have an easy prey on him

-

- Well, Enishi... I think you should sleep now. This is the first day you was awaken in the last three weeks, and I think you already has talked, walked and moved yourself too much. We could find a caravan anytime, and I'll need you to help me. We don't want to be stuck here, we were running out of water and food.

He had a thousand questions to ask her, and he did not want to sleep, but he found himself slipping into sleep soon enough. A white snow field smelling white plums surrounded him and then he didn't care about the questions to the gaijin girl anymore.

< THAT was pretty close ...> Asiyah gave a sigh, relaxing herself only at the sight of his steady breathing. He was sleeping at last.

Now she was alone again.

Alone with her thoughts, alone with her sorrows… her memories of a land she would never see again for her life time.

Because she was now an outcast.

She went out of the tent again and walked away. She didn't want her sobs to awaken the human called Enishi.

N de la A :

Isfahan : Ancient Persian city ( Iran from 1935), old capital of Safawid dynasty . One of the most astonishing cities of the world, famous for his miniature craftwork and the old palaces, gardens, pools and Mosques, and the central square where the sport called polo was invented and played by first time. (My husband was there last year, so those who may want any info…)

Dunhuang lies at the western end of the Gansu Corridor, called Hexi Zoulang, on the actual province of Gansu. The name Dunhuang originally meant "prospering, flourishing"-- a hint that Dunhuang must once have been an important city. Its position at the intersection of two trade routes on the renowned Silk Road was what made Dunhuang flourish. The coming and going of horse and camel caravans carried new thoughts, ideas, arts, and sciences to the East and West. This city lies at the verge of the merciless desert called Taklimakan

The Taklimakan Desert, also known as the Tarim Desert, is the largest desert in China and one of the largest in the world located in the center of the Tarim basin south of Xinjiang's Tianshan Mountains. It is 1,000 kilometers from west to east and 400 kilometers from north to south, covering a total area of 327,000 square kilometers. Taklimakan means " no emergence upon entry" in Uygur language. It has three characteristics: 1) Drifting sand dunes account for 85 percent of the total desert area, while stable and semi-stable bush sand dunes account for only 15 percent, which are found mainly on the edges of the desert and along the rivers flowing into its depth. 2) The sand dunes are complicated in form, and are of great height, mostly 100-150 meters and some as high as 200-300 meters. 3) There are " natural oases" with wide development potentials and diversiform-leaved poplars over the wide areas in the valleylands deep in the desert, along the rivers on the edges of the desert and in the frontal part of the alluvial fans.

.In next chapter we will lean why Yukishiro Enishi was lost in there