Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Evil Within ❯ The Soul Reaper's Pact (1) ( Chapter 1 )

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

The Soul Reaper's Pact - TEW 1




The Evil Within
Chapter One-The Soul Reaper's Pact

Aoshi's eyebrows rose again in scorn.


The
man's eyes gleamed. "I could tell you don't believe me."


Aoshi
nodded. "It isn't normal for me to hear a man say he wants my soul."
He answered placidly.


The
man smirked. "All right. I will prove it to you."


Aoshi's
eyes widened in surprise as the man unleashed an inhuman howl.


His
eyes started to change color from their cat-like yellow to a blood red. His pale
skin shifted hue slightly, so that they cast off a strange crimson color.


Aoshi
felt his heart flutter tensely as the man released another growl as wings-deep
red wings that spanned several feet wide-sprouted from his back.



He is a demon,
Aoshi thought, narrowing his eyes.


"Well?"
the man's voice was still the same as he spoke. "Do you believe me
now?"


Aoshi
didn't respond.


"Hm.
Perhaps it would be easier for you to converse like-" he paused, and Aoshi
watched, as the man's form changed. His wings disappeared, he grew slightly
taller, his body a little more toned, and his face altered completely.
"-this?"


He
took my form. He took my image…Aoshi examined him from head to toe.


Except…his
eyes aren't blue, they're red. The same red as they were when he changed into
the Akuma.


When
Aoshi still didn't answer, the man let out a frustrated groan.


Suddenly,
he was back to his original form-the one that Aoshi had first seen.


"Now,
listen to me." The man's still scarlet eyes glowed. "I am called
Rofocale. Like I have told you before, I am a soul reaper. I take people's souls
as long as they are willing to give it. And in


return,
I give them my strength. Or anything I can give them. And I want your
soul."


"I
do not have a soul any longer." Aoshi answered, his anxious eyes
contradicting his calm tone.


Rofocale
chuckled. "You do not even feel your soul any longer. But it is still
there, Shinomori. And I want it."


"And
what would you give me in return?"


"I've
already told you. I will give you everything you need to track down and kill
Battousai."


Aoshi's
eyes closed as he thought of Rofocale's proposition.


All
that matters now is that I take my revenge…my soul is already tainted as it
is…what is the use of it?


What
matters to me more…justice for my companions, who gave up their very lives for
me, or my soul…my soul, which is scarred and fouled with the blood of so many?


He
opened his eyes and met Rofocale's blazing ruby-colored ones.


"Fine.
I will grant you my soul…in exchange I want you to guarantee that I will take
my revenge on Battousai." Aoshi finally said quietly.


Rofocale
threw back his head and laughed harshly. "Have you been listening to anything
I've been telling you? I will give you the strength you need to have your
vengeance. It's up to you to how you exploit it."


Aoshi
clenched his fist. "Fine." He snarled. "I just want to be able to
retaliate."


Rofocale
smiled bemusedly. "Remember," he said softly, "this is a pact. It
is not something you can go back on."


Aoshi
nodded coldly. He didn't care. As long as he would be able to punish Battousai
for what he had done, he didn't care.


"And
when I say to give you all the strength I possess, that means that part of me
will be you. We will be a single being. That is the only way you can become
truly powerful."


Aoshi
nodded again.


"All
right then." Rofocale suddenly took out a short, crooked knife. "Here.
Take this."


Aoshi
took it from him, and examined the knife. Its hilt was unusually long, and
several tiny crystals that glowed ominously were encrusted onto it.


"And
what am I supposed to do with this?" he asked, twisting it around his
fingers carefully.


"Kill
yourself." Rofocale replied evenly.


"Nani?"
Aoshi's eyebrows raised in mild surprise.


"Well…"
Rofocale smiled gamely. "Not kill yourself, exactly…you stab yourself in
your heart with this knife. You won't die…this knife can't kill anyone, it has
been enchanted so it is literally incapable of killing…it simply triggers your
soul to escape your body."


Aoshi
breathed deeply as he nodded. Holding the knife firmly, his held the tip inches
away from the left side of his chest.



This had better work,
he thought nervously.


He
plunged the knife through his torso.


And
he felt…


Pain.


Nothing
but utter pain as the cold knife touched his very heart, and reached through to
his soul.


Nothing
but pain as memories of the past flashed before him.


Nothing
but pain as familiar faces flashed before his closed eyes.


And
then everything was dark. There was nothing but darkness.


Nothing
of the pain that he had just felt, just total and absolute darkness.


"Pull
out the knife. Now." It was Rofocale.


Aoshi
yanked the knife out of his chest. His skin closed up almost instantaneously.


He
looked at the now bloodstained blade, then at Rofocale. "Well?" he
prompted.


"Give
me the knife." Rofocale ordered.


Aoshi
obligingly handed him the dagger.


Rofocale
squinted carefully at the hilt of the knife, twisted the first silver crystal,
and took it out.


Aoshi
winced as pain pulsed through his body.


Rofocale
twisted out the second crystal this time a deep violet, and another bolt of pain
seared though Aoshi.


"Wh-what
are you doing?" Aoshi asked softly.


"Your
soul-" Rofocale paused as he yanked out the third one, now a pale green,
"is within these crystals. And each time I-" he stopped again as he
took out the fourth one, a beautiful light azure, "take them out, a piece
of your soul escapes you."


Aoshi
gasped as more burning pain surged through him.


So
what I'm feeling right now…he thought, is the pain of my soul being
torn out of me.


"Are
you listening to me?" Rofocale glanced down at him. "Well, it doesn't
matter…it won't make a difference." He faltered as he wrapped his fingers
around the final and largest crystal, one that was the same hue as his deep red
eyes, and yanked it out forcefully.


Aoshi's
eyes squeezed shut and his mouth opened in a silent howl as his chest tightened
painfully, almost as if something were being wrenched out of him.


"Calm
down. The ache doesn't last long." Rofocale said coolly.


His
words proved to be correct. The pain slowly vanished, and with it, Aoshi
realized, were all the cuts, wounds, and gashes that his body had suffered,
leaving only whitish scars.


This
is incredible. Aoshi thought, running a finger over what used to be a bloody
gash, now just a pale blemish.


"That
is just one of the things that you have gotten from me. Your healing rate is
almost three times faster than normal."
Rofocale smirked.


Aoshi
got up, amazingly effortlessly, and looked at Rofocale carefully. "What
aren't you telling me?" he asked suspiciously.


Rofocale's
blood red eyes gleamed. "That you will have to find out for yourself."


Aoshi's
lips pursed in thought. There could be so many things that are essential that
he isn't telling me. This kind of a pact isn't something you can find out about
in such a short time. A voice in his head warned surreptitiously.


Blood
met ice as their eyes locked. "All right." Aoshi said quietly.
"How will I be able to talk to you?"


Rofocale
smirked smugly. "You'll find out for yourself, Shinomori. I guarantee you,
you will." He paused. "There isn't anything left for me to discuss
with you." He clasped the five crystals in his hands tightly. "Good
luck, Shinomori." He smiled pleasantly, though there


was
a hint of uncultivated hunger in it, and vanished.


Aoshi
narrowed his azure eyes. Tomorrow, he will start his search for Battousai.





Aoshi walked in the bustling streets of Kyoto the next day,
weaving in and out of the noisy, bothersome crowds.


He
narrowed his eyes, trying to catch fragments of people's conversations that
would be of any use to him.


"…meeting
my sister tomorrow…"


"…visiting
Tokyo soon…"


He
let out a perturbed sigh as he realized this wouldn't help. He would be better
off asking around.


Still,
it wouldn't hurt to listen. He told himself. On the way back to Kyoto, he
had picked up a few more abilities that Rofocale had bestowed on him. One of
them was that he didn't tire half as


easily
as before, which enabled him to walk all the way back to Kyoto in one night, and
his senses were considerably sharper.


"…I
told her that I was leaving…"


"…my
mother is ill…"


This
is useless.


"…saw
a man with a cross-shaped scar on his cheek…carrying a katana, as
well…"


Aoshi
stopped walking immediately. They were talking about Himura. Only he would
have a cross-shaped scar and a sword. Where was he going? He looked back and
saw a gangster talking continuously to his companion as they walked.


He
spun around and grabbed the shoulder of the young, tough-looking man.
"Excuse me," he began calmly.


The
gangster turned around and glared at him. "What do you want?" he
snapped irritably.


"I
heard you talking about a man with a cross-shaped scar. I'm looking for someone
who looks like that."


"So?"
he answered disinterestedly as his companion remained silent.


"So
I was wondering if you would tell me where you saw him." Aoshi replied, his
impatience with the boy's impertinence steadily increasing.


The
man laughed rudely. "I have no reason to tell you," he said brashly,
shrugging.


I
have nothing to bribe him with either. He contemplated.


Suddenly
the man was walking into a hidden alleyway, leaving his friend behind.


Aoshi
cursed angrily under his breath and hurried behind him.


The
youth turned around and glared at him. "What are you still doing
here?" he said.


"I
need that information about that man." Aoshi struggled to keep his
annoyance at the man down.


"I
don't care." The young man scoffed.


Another
one of those useless gangsters who think they own everything. Aoshi thought
heatedly.


He
once again caught up to the boy, who was by now in a completely secluded alley.


"You
are going to tell me about that man you saw. Now." Aoshi said
ferociously.


"
Chikuso, I thought I already told you I wasn't going to tell you." The boy
said adamantly.


That
did it. Aoshi's mind was clouded by rage as he brandished one of his kodachi. He
growled menacingly as he pointed it at the boy, who was now pale with fright.


Aoshi's
eyes deepened into a hellish red.


"Now.
Tell me where you saw him." He muttered, his eyes glittering angrily. Out
of the corner of his eye, he could see the boy's friend shaking.


The
boy's eyes widened. "I saw him at the Northern part of Kyoto. Somewhere in
the markets…"


Aoshi
narrowed his eyes guardedly. His initial thought was to let them go for he had
gotten but he had wanted, but another part of him was lusting for blood to
spill, desiring to cut the young, brazen man up, hungering for slaughter.


"I
already told you what you wanted to know…let me go…"


Aoshi
smiled demonically as his eyes gleamed. He thrust his kodachi forward and
stabbed the man in the stomach.


The
hazy cloud of fury that had covered his mind dissolved, his eyes reverted to
their normal indigo color, and he withdrew his sword in terror at what he had
done.


I
killed him…I killed a man for no reason at all. He wasn't the kind of man
who did that. It wasn't him who killed the youth so mercilessly. It wasn't him.
It was Rofocale.


Was
this what Rofocale had meant by us being a single entity? That he would be able
to control me?


His
thoughts were pushed out by the sound of footsteps.


People
were coming.


Right
now, that doesn't matter. Right now, I have to escape.


Taking
a deep, calming breath, he bolted in the opposite direction, back into the busy
streets of Kyoto, back to the people who didn't know about the murder that had
just occurred a few minutes ago.


He
resumed walking normally, as to not make anyone suspicious, his mind still
racing over the incident.


He
felt truly ashamed and guilty for what he had done. Yet…at the same time,
there was another part of him that felt proud and strangely satisfied.


Or
is it the part of me that is Rofocale?


And
suddenly a familiar flash of long black hair from the other side of street
caught his attention.


Misao?


She
was running, screaming at someone, telling whomever she was chasing to wait.


Yes,
it was definitely Misao, even after so long, he couldn't mistake her for anyone
else.


He
wanted to stop, go after her, grab her by the arms, and look at her. Look at her
after over ten years. Something inside of him yearned for her smile, for her
glinting sapphire eyes, for her open,


welcoming
face.


But
he couldn't bring himself to do it. She was a part of his past, and he a part of
hers.


Just
keep on walking and don't look back. He silently commanded himself. Somehow,
he knew that if he glanced back at her, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from
going after her.


And
that was what he did. He continued to walk away from her without looking back.





Author's
Notes: I know I made Aoshi sound like such a huge idiot. :Þ But it was the only
way I could possibly have a plot. And in that last part, I still have to sharpen
it, mostly because it sounds stupid. Anyway, thanks to everyone who commented on
the prologue (especially Latin_D, who really helped out a lot with the prologue,
even if he didn't know it…I'm going to edit it soon, probably right after my
exams). And I don't know what the hell (no pun intended) I was doing typing
Akuma in, I'm not too sharp with my Japanese, gomen nasai...

<<<Prologue
Chapter Two>>>
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