Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Out There ❯ The predicament ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Out There

A Rurouni Kenshin alternate universe fic by Kchan88

Prologue:The predicament

A band of Japanese peasants were traveling up the river in a small boat when they pulled up at a dock in Kyoto.
It was the middle of the night, so they didn't expect anyone to notice they were there. How wrong they were. Police chief Hajime Saitoh was waiting for them. Saitoh
had been trying for several years to crush the peasnt rebellions going on in Kyoto. The peasants were tired of the opression of the Tokogowa shogunate. Saitoh however, was on the side of the shogunate.
In Saitoh's mind, every peasant was a troublemaker, so these peasants, sneaking around inthe middle of the night, were really asking for it.

"Stop it right there, peasant scum!!!" yelled Saitoh, his amber eyes glowing in the pitch black darkness, making him look even more fearsome.

The peasants froze in their tracks, One red haired woman clutched a bundle tightly to her chest.

"Take these peasants to the police station. And take that bundle away from the woman. She has stolen goods no doubt." said Saitoh pointing at the red haired woman.

When an officer attempted to take the bundle away from the woman, she wrenched out of his grip and began to run away. Saitoh jumped on his horse and began to pursue her. He chased her for several minutes, until he finally
caught up with her on the steps of the police station. The woman banged on the doors, crying desperatley for help, but to no avail. Saitoh attemted to grab the bundle form the woman's arms, but she wouldn't let go. So he slapped her, causing her to fall and hit her head on the stone steps, and let go of the bundle.
She lay motionless on the steps, life gone from her. Saitoh stared. He hasn't meant to kill her. But it was her fault really, he reasoned with himself. She had stolen goods, and she ran. He didn't really feel all that guilty. Saitoh lifted the blanket of the bundle to find not stolen goods, but a baby boy, with red hair just like the woman's.


"A baby?" he gasped.

He opened it further, revealing the child's face. It was normal looking except for a cross shaped scar on the boy's left cheek. Saitoh's face contorted. This was the mark of someone who's family had come in contact with cholera.
When the cholera epidemic had broken out about a year ago, town officials went through the houses, marking the faces of the families who had been contaminated. They did this so that whenever a person went out, people would know they had been infected with cholera, and would stay away. Even if that person didn't have it, just someone in thier family,
they still recieved the mark. This child's family had obviously come into contact with it, but the child himself couldn't have had it, or he wouldn't be alive. But Saitoh still believed that the child might carry the disease, so he pulled out his katana, preparing to get rid of the child, when a deep voice rang out in the night:

"Stop!!" it was Seijuro Hiko, the police commisioner, and Saitoh's superior. "What is the meaning of this?!"

Saitoh glared. Hiko was always getting in his way.

"This child's family has been contaminted with chlolera, he needs to be disposed of." Saitoh said, no sympathy in his voice.

Hiko glanced down at the steps of the station, only to see the motionless form of the red haired woman. His face saddened.

"Saitoh look at the innocent blood you have already spilt. How can you spill more? Especially that of a child?" said Hiko, his eyes flashing with anger.

"It's not my fault. She ran from me, so I thought she had stolen goods in her arms. She shouldn't have run."Saitoh said , amber eyes glaring at Hiko.

"Nontheless, continued Hiko,"It is your responsiiblty to care for the child now that his mother cannot, since you are the one rsponsible for her death. I know you have a strict code of honor. This is the least you can do."

Saitoh grumbled. He hated the idea of raising the boy, he absoulutley despised it. But perhaps the child could someday be of use to him.

"Fine. But you must let him live in the station." said Saitoh.

"Where?" Hiko asked, confused.

"Up in the tower. Just where no one can see him. The people will panic if they see his scar. He must stay up there." said Saitoh firmly.

"Fine." said Hiko, still not trusting Saitoh. "He can live there."

The two men parted, giving each other one last glare.

And so Saitoh took the child, which Hiko named Kenshin, and put him up in the bell tower.( The police station had formerly been a Buddhist temple.) He kept Kenshin locked up, convincing him that he was contaminted with cholera and couldn't be around other humans.
Many stories arose about the mysterious man living in the tower, but of course no one would find out the real story until about sixteen years later....