Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Prisoner of War ❯ The Battlefield ( Chapter 2 )

Okay moving on to the next chapter

Disclaimer: They don't belong to me.

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It was noon, but no one could have guessed it. The world was shaded in gray for the men on the battlefield. A soft rain was falling on the men who had already met their ends. Their blood mixed with falling water and soaked the ground around them. Everything was wet, bloody, and gray. A red headed man gripped his sword and surveyed the dreary area around him. Tattered banners of both Edo and Kyoto were waving carelessly. The air was filled with the stench of death and the sounds of clanging swords. Screams and cries of the dying rang out through the field. There were no men standing around the man though. He had lived up to his name. Battousai the Manslayer killed every man that had wandered near. They lay around each other staring up with lifeless unseeing eyes. He sliced his sword quickly through the air. The blood of the many men he had killed that still clung to it was flung off in a neat line. The blood splattered across the face of one of the men, but his murderer didn't notice. All around him the faces of dead men were glaring at him. Accusing him. He didn't see them though. Each and every man lying on that battlefield had either the face of his father or that of the guard who scarred him. The situation he was in was their fault. He killed because of them, so every man who was slain by his sword carried their face. He had the overwhelming desire to mutilate their faces like the guard had done to him and he in turn had done to the guard. He still vividly remembered killing that man. He was the first blood on his hands, and he was worth it. After he had fallen but wasn't completely dead, he had sliced a cross-shaped scar into the man's cheek. Then he had removed his head. He had relished in the dying man's screams as the sword had cut into his face.

"Please! Please spare me!" He had never seen such terror in a man before. It made him feel powerful and requited. He had smiled at the man when his blade was coming down on his neck.

"I believe my mother begged for my life as well, but you didn't listen either." He would never forget the image of the guard's head rolling away from his body. He sighed and sheathed his now clean sword. He turned and walked toward some men. It was time to kill some more. Then, suddenly, he heard something over the cacophony of battle. A twang and then an unmistakable whizzing. He whipped around inhumanly quickly with his hand on his sword. Then there was an immense pain in his chest. His breath flew out of him and he was knocked back a few steps. He looked down at the shaft coming out of him and the small white feathers fluttering on the end of it. He was flabbergasted. Then another sharp pain sprang from his shoulder, and a second shaft joined the first.

"Arrows?" His voice was incredibly soft. He couldn't draw his weapon because his arm was in so much pain from the arrow. Two more slammed into each of his legs, and he crashed onto his knees. His other shoulder was hit, and he fell back wards. The soft white feathers fluttered in the breeze and the gentle rain began to blur his vision. He laughed to himself at his thoughts. He wasn't scared of the death he knew was coming. He wasn't begging the gods for mercy. He was thinking of how beautiful the feathers rustling were. Then the gray world faded to black.

The archer lowered his bow. Five direct hits in a row. He couldn't believe his luck. He had actually done it. He had actually killed Battousai the Manslayer. All of Edo would praise him for his victory. He smelled smoke wafting from behind him and turned to see his Captain looking over the battle.

"I got him, Captain Saitou!" The unenthused Captain glared at the archer. How dare that boy take such pride in killing the Battousai in that way? No man had the right to kill so great a swordsman with an arrow. If one could not defeat him with a sword then they didn't deserve to kill him. His death was meaningless this way.

"You are an idiot. How dare you disrespect the swordsman in such a way?" A small cigarette fell carelessly to the ground and was followed by the bow of an archer who overstepped his boundaries. Blood splattered over both and put the cigarette out. The Captain looked at his astonished comrades.

"What are you staring at? Remove the Battousai's weapons and retain his body. Don't let Kyoto have it!"

"We've given you everything we have!"

"And it wasn't enough. So we will take your son." Consciousness came to him in a rush. He was angry. How could he dream of his pain even in death? How could the fates be so cruel? His face contorted as pain pressed into him. His shoulders, his legs, but mostly his chest. He could smell the blood. His blood. Then there was also the scent of medicines and bandages. Then there was something even more powerful. Cherry blossoms. He knew that scent well. Every time he walked by a cherry tree in bloom memories came flooding back to him. He slowly opened his eyes.

"Mother?" But before him was not his mother but a young woman. She wore a long purple kimono embroidered with pink representations of the fragrance she wore. Her long black hair was tied up in a pink ribbon. She turned to look at him and her big blue eyes met his hard amber ones. She smiled softly.

"Oh good. I thought you would never wake up."

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A/N: God, I hate not having the internet at home. It's so hard to write with people all around me. Stop looking at my screen! Eek! Get away you mangy college students! Please review!