Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Forgotten Past ❯ Nightmare ( Chapter 1 )

Forgotten Past

Nightmare

Chapter 1

"I want someone to love. I want someone to love me back. I want guaranteed love. There is only one guaranteed love: the love of a child. I have no one. I am alone. But not for long, they have found one. The perfect one. They found me a child. The perfect love. He's three. He has the perfect hair. The perfect eyes. With him, I won't be alone anymore. However, there's a problem. He has a family. They will soon remedy that. He will be mine!"

"...Attack..."said the voice to unseen allies.

Inside the dream, Kaoru watched the attack take place upon a small hut that had materialized out of nowhere. Her scream of warning frozen on her lips, as she felt her body being pulled toward the tiny house and what waited inside.

No. I don't want to go. I don't want to go. Kaoru thought to herself. I do not want to see. I don't want to see what those shadows did. I don't want to! Kaoru silently tossed and turned in her sleep, trying to break the spell of the dream holding her captive.

"...Look..." the disembodied voice called to her when she finally entered the hut.

The smell hit Kaoru first. A metallic coppery smell: Blood. Blood freshly splattered lining the walls of the tiny house in unorganized patterns that told a gruesome tale, although a familiar tale of death. Kaoru shifted her eyes downward to escape the stained wall, only to see the gutted bodies littering the floor. The mutilated bodies echoed the story of the walls. On their faces the lingering vestiges of a scream gone unheard--unanswered. A mother. A father. Two sisters clinging desperately to each other in death. They were gone under the blades of merciless killers.

Kaoru glanced around trying to see if anybody survived the bloody massacre. In a corner of the wall was a lone survivor, lying in a puddle of blood as it dripped down the stained wall. A little boy curled tightly in the fetus position, desperately trying to hide from all. Trying to stay alive.

Tears pouring out from her blue eyes and over her cheeks, Kaoru began to approach the boy thinking only to comfort him. 'Comfort,' she thought bitterly to herself. How do you comfort somebody when their whole family has been killed in front of their eyes? At least I can take him away.

The voice screamed. "DAME!"

"Why not? How could you order this?" Questioned Kaoru as she gestured toward the disemboweled bodies littering the floorboards. "Why did you do this? Why?"

Among the darkness surrounding her, Kaoru heard the voice laugh. A laugh that had a vague familiarity to it almost comforting, but still eerie enough to send chills down her spine.

"Who are you?"

Minutes passed before the voiced eventually rasped out, "One question at a time. There is no hurry." Then the voice started to laugh that familiar laugh again. "It's not like these people are going to kick us out."

Anger flashed in Kaoru's eyes as she snapped out, "This is no joke. Quit stalling and answer my questions."

"Do you really want to know the truth?"

Kaoru aimed her ice blue stare toward the space where she last heard the voice speak. "Yes, I want to know the truth," she answered in a hard voice. "And stop hiding from me. Or are you a coward."

"Coward", it screeched loudly resulting in its voice booming around Kaoru. "I'm no coward."

A small smirk found it's way upon Kaoru's lips. So, the voice didn't like to be called a coward. Well, neither do I, but it's a victory she thought to herself.

"Yes a coward. What do you call hiding in darkness and killing a family for no reason?"

Silence.

Then a cold unfeeling chuckle resounded from the frigid darkness surrounding Kaoru. Again, she was startled by the laugh. Reminding Kaoru of someone close to her, but who?

"You want to know who I am," the voice called. "You want to know why I had them killed?"

Kaoru hesitated and began to have doubts. Should she have made such demands? Did she really want to know the truth? Did she really want to know the reason for the killing? Did she really want to know the identity of the voice? Kaoru glanced toward the little boy in the corner. His small frail body soaking in the blood of his brutally massacred family. Seeing the image, she squared her shoulders whipping her head around, she answered with a nod of her head.

"I was lonely," the voice answered simply. "I wanted someone to love. I wanted a child."

Outrage, shock, and fear were the emotions doing battle in Kaoru's mind and on her face. Outrage for the little boy and his family. Shock because the voice said it like it was all a sudden whim. It was a whim with a simple answer. Fear for it was voicing a deeply buried emotion that Kaoru often felt when she was alone. Closing her eyes and giving herself a mental shake, Kaoru bit out "You forgot one thing, Murderer."

"Murderer? Hmm, well I guess you could call me that, but I prefer my name. As for the thing I forgot--you have to open your eyes to see who I am."

Bracing herself against another shock, Kaoru slowly opened one eye at a time. The scenery had changed. The bodies and blood were gone. The house was gone. However, the boy was still huddled on the ground. Feeling a tap on her left shoulder Kaoru took a deep breath and slowly turned to meet the voice.

Masaka! MASAKA!!! Kaoru's mind screamed out as she quickly backed away from the figure that stood before her. "No, this can't be! This is wrong," she whispered in a near hysterical voice. "NO! NO! NO!" Kaoru gasped out putting her hands over her mouth, as she sank to the ground.

The figure walked to the far corner and gently lifted the boy in its arms.

Turning back to Kaoru holding the now sleeping boy against its chest. The figure smiled.

"What's wrong Kaoru," asked the approaching figure. Stopping only inches away from Kaoru, still sitting dazed on the floor. Finally dropping the last bombshell that Kaoru was desperately trying to hide from.

"Don't you recognize yourself?"

It's true. The voice is she. The Murderer her: Kamiya Kaoru. Breaking free from the tormenting nightmare. Kaoru let out a terrifying scream.

...In the shadows...Laughter rang...

================================================================ =====

End Chapter 1. [Created 12/16/99] pmchivas@hotmail.com [Modified 04/23/00]

Is this working for you? I'm thinking of going back and writing a prologue to this story, but I don't want to give too much away in it. So e-mail me with thoughts and feelings, don't worry I welcome flames, also. Shishou M--All standard disclaimers apply.

Japanese

Dame--Don't

Masaka--That can't be! or Impossible!