Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Journey ❯ Prologue: Unlocking the Memories ( Prologue )

Disclaimer: This humble writer of fanfiction does not own Rurouni Kenshin. That distinction belongs to Nobuhiro Watsuki, Sony, Shueisha, Media Blasters, ADV, Fuji TV, and VIZ.

 

PROLOGUE:Unlocking the Memories

 

The entire household is asleep, but I remain awake amid the solitude the night offers. Crickets chirp quietly in the background while the faraway, mournful howl of a dog pierces the air.

 

I sigh and curl up to my side to face my husband of three years. I am unable to suppress a gentle smile at the peaceful expression on his face. After all, he had gone through so much to achieve this peace he had yearned for so long. I reach out and trace the fading cross scar on his cheek. He stirs at the touch of my fingers over his cheek, yet he remains asleep. I smile in return at this, for it means that his trust in me runs deep.

 

But enough of that. Tonight, something else besides my husband is keeping me awake.

 

Memories of a journey. Lessons learned through blood, sweat, toil, and tears. Realizations and revelations. Remembrance of the person that had molded me into who I am, of making up for lost chances and losing it almost as soon as it was gained. The loss had almost been too much to bear, but the journey I had gone through had helped me endure it.

 

I get up slowly so as not to wake up my slumbering husband. Padding over to the desk that sat on the corner of the room we share, I sit down and take out a journal. The moonlight streaming through the window is adequate enough for my eyes to see what I'm doing. I run a hand over the worn leather of the journal—it is western-made, sturdier than the ones made in Japan. He left it for me, telling me to write in it. Back then I had found his gesture to be strange—he had never done anything like that before.

 

But then, some time after his death, I saw the wisdom behind his gesture. It was not a mere trinket, not just something to remember him by. Rather, it was a reminder of who I am, a Kamiya, and what I am capable of. It was a reminder of what it means to truly wield The Sword that Protects.

 

Opening the journal, I turn the pages over, searching for a date.

 

Here it is. The first day of the month of April during the thirteenth year of the Meiji Era.

 

The beginning of my story.