Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Sharpest Lives ❯ Chapter 2

The Sharpest Lives 2 / ??
Written by Jezz-Ra
Warnings - Not all warnings apply to all chapters. Yaoi, Lemon, Violence, Language, Angst
Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, don't make money off it. Wish I did.

Archived at - anime.adultfanfiction.net, fanfiction.net, and mediaminer.org ::: Anywhere else, ask!
Questions or Comments? - Email me at megami_no_remon@hotmail.com

// blah // indicates thoughts.

A/N - Hmm. Only a single review? Perhaps the audience for a RK ficcy is smaller than I otherwise anticipated...ah, well. I'll give it a couple chapters and let some things happen that are worth reviewing before I get too put out hehe.

Time to get some of that plot thing in here. Let's see if I can keep this fic under a hundred chapters...I always have the best of intentions but ...well. The last fic I tried to make 10 or 12 chapters long is at 121 and still going...XD
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It had been two years since Kenshin had left the Kamiya dojo. In that time, he had wandered far across Japan. Countless brigands had felt the bite of the sakabatou. He hadn't stayed in any one place for very long.

For all that Kenshin missed his life at the dojo with his friends...friends that had become his family...Kenshin couldn't deny the attraction that the open road held for him. Wandering, sleeping under the stars...it was freedom as much as it was penance. It was blissful, in a way, to have nothing surrounding him but the open sky, no place that he had to go save where his feet and chance took him...but it was a quiet, lonely life.

// As is fitting. I should not burden others with the sins of my past ... they should not suffer those that come to try to claim my blood in payment. I do not deserve such a peaceful, happy life...I must seek to atone for all those whose lives I have taken. //

It was currently mid-morning, and Kenshin could smell the faintest hint of salt in the air, blown in on the breeze from the southern coast. // It should not take too much longer for me to reach the port...a day or so, I'd imagine. I suppose I can stop by for a short while and see if there is anything in the area that needs attending...perhaps get a few things. I think I have a LITTLE coin left. //

Kenshin blinked as he noticed something in the road. His pace quickened when he noticed it was a man. The samurai was relieved to see the man was still alive, although he looked exhausted. Kenshin helped the man to sit up and checked him over, trying to gauge the extent of his injuries. It wasn't as bad as he had feared - the man had broken his ankle and was dehydrated and tired, but nothing that seemed fatal.

After getting the man to drink some water, Kenshin was able to coax a little information out of him. The distressed man looked at him in despair. "Please, you have to help me!"

"Of course, sir...what is it that you need?" Kenshin asked softly.

The man produced a satchel and pulled a little wooden chest out of it. "This box contains some medicine and herbs to make more. I've traveled for nearly a month to acquire it...I have to get it back home to my village. The people are sick, and this can cure them. If I don't get it there soon, they could all die...but I can't travel like this! I'll never make it..."

Kenshin offered the man a smile and gently rested his hand on his shoulder. "If you are willing to trust me, sir, I will deliver the medicine for you. All you need to do is tell me where to go."

The man eyed the samurai in grateful disbelief. "R...really? You would do that for me? You don't even know me...who are you?"

"I am just a wanderer, that I am. It would do my heart good to help you, sir, and I have no other obligations at present."

The man appeared to consider it for a moment before fishing around in his satchel and pulling out a small map. He spent a short while explaining to Kenshin where his village was - it was actually on the continent just outside a port town there. The man had already booked passage on a ship and he pushed his receipt into Kenshin's hands.

"I can't thank you enough for this. Don't worry about me. I can make it to the city and I have friends there that will help see me home. You should go, quickly.""Are you sure, sir? I wouldn't want anything to happen to you out here alone and injured..." Kenshin frowned, torn between the need to make haste and worry for the wounded man.

"Please. The longer we wait, the more people will suffer. I'll make it to the city myself."

Kenshin gave in, although he left what water and food he had on him with the man and did what he could to bandage his ankle. He then shouldered the satchel and wished the man well in his travels before heading off down the road towards the city. While he was sad that there were people suffering, it was a nice feeling to know he would be helping. He had a quest, a direction.

// Hmm. I've never been to the continent before...// Kenshin mused as he headed down the road. // It will be an interesting experience, I suppose. //

The samurai was jerked out of his thoughts by the sound of a woman wailing. Violet eyes widened as Kenshin hurried over the next hill in the road to investigate, one hand twitching near the hilt of his blade.

Kenshin's sharp eyes took in the scene. A large cart was abandoned off to the side of the road, a few boxes and things littering the ground. A weeping woman was kneeling next to the cart, holding a motionless man in her lap and rocking him slightly. The man was soaked in blood.

Kenshin frowned as he headed towards the woman. Her teary gaze snapped up when he got close, looking at him in alarm. The samurai quickly held up his hands to show he meant no harm. "My pardons, I did not mean to startle you. What happened here?"

The woman was nearly hysterical, from the sounds of things. "Bandits...they...they attacked me and my husband...they stabbed him! They took our horses and our valuables..."

Kenshin's frown deepened as the woman's short tale of woe tugged at his heartstrings. "Is your husband...will he be alright, do you think?"

The woman sniffled, distressed. "I...I don't know..."

Kenshin eyed the man, judging from the amount of blood soaking his shirt that he SURELY needed some medical attention, but not sure what was the best way to pry him from his wife's grasp to tend him. "Will you allow me to have a look at his wounds that I might treat them? I've taken my share of injuries and know how to treat most wounds, that I do."The woman hesitated before nodding. "I...yes, you can. There are some bandages and supplies in a large steel chest in the cart."

Kenshin nodded and swiftly made his way to the cart, locating the chest in question. He paused with a frown as he lifted it free of the cart and set it on the ground. The sharp scent of gunpowder tickled his nose. // What is it they had as cargo, I wonder...? Perhaps they own a firearm of their own which was stolen in the raid. //

Despite that thought, however, Kenshin's mind was ill at ease. His sixth sense was tingling madly. Something was wrong here...something was out of place, but his other senses hadn't picked up on what it was just yet. // Is this some sort of set up? A trap? // Slowly, Kenshin's eyes shifted to take a look at the distressed woman and her husband, the direction of his gaze shielded by his long bangs. She was watching him intently, her gaze occasionally flicking off towards the nearby forest and not at all paying attention to her horribly wounded husband. Kenshin barely hid his surprise when he noticed the supposedly dying man crack open an eye to watch him as well.

The faintest of smiles twitched Kenshin's lips as he pretended to be having some difficulty with the latch of the metal chest. // A trap, then. Bandits. Luring in passers-by with this ruse in an effort to catch them unaware. I'm actually surprised their comrades haven't revealed themselves and attacked me just yet. How disgraceful, preying on those kind-hearted enough to drop their guard to help a couple in need. But what are they waiting for? //

Kenshin got his answer a moment later when he decided it was time to move the ruse along. He unlatched the lid of the chest and pushed it open. His sixth sense screamed in alarm, but even his god-like speed wasn't enough to completely save him. The chest had been rigged with explosives, and when the lid opened, they had triggered. He had managed to put a tiny bit of distance between him and the chest before it hit, but it wasn't enough.

This explosion was unlike any Kenshin had encountered before. The explosion didn't have much actual concussive force, instead carrying with it an incredible explosion of sound and a searing, brilliant burst of light. Kenshin was dimly aware of a scream being torn from his throat even as his back hit the cart. The burning, blinding light erased his vision entirely. The massive sound almost directly in his ears had reduced his hearing to a nonsensical, pointless buzz.

Somehow, incredibly - likely only because of the cart at his back - Kenshin stayed on his feet. He felt more than heard the movement around him. He drew his sword and held it defensively in front of him, struggling to focus through the pain. He didn't dare to take a step, feeling his center of balance reeling horribly off-kilter. His mind felt numb and his limbs heavy, but he couldn't afford to give in to the peaceful bliss that unconsciousness offered. // Damn it... I even was expecting a trap and fell for it anyways... //

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The bandits eyed each other as they gathered, their half-dozen comrades filtering out of their hiding places. They eyed Kenshin with varying expressions.

"Plucky little thing, ain't he, still on his feet and steel in hand? I guess it's true, size isn't everything."

"Keh, he's dead on his feet. He can barely stand. He probably doesn't even know how to use that damn thing...probably stole it from his daddy's shelf."

"Eh, he's small but he doesn't look like a kid. A girl, maybe..." Here the bandits snickered, and one of them headed towards Kenshin.

"He is a pretty little thing for a wannabe samurai. I think I'll see if he screams like a girl instead of just lookin' like one."

"Hah, he's prettier than most of the whores you bring back to the camp! Maybe I'll help ya make him squeal."

The bandits laughed in amusement, although their laughter died rapidly. As soon as the more adventurous of the lecherous ones got close to Kenshin, the redhead exploded into motion. Three strikes that were almost too fast for the naked eye to follow dropped the man to the ground with a broken collarbone and arm.

The attack cost Kenshin, however, and the world reeled sickeningly under him and he nearly fell. He found that his hearing wasn't completely erased on his right side, but it was surely damaged.

The remainder of the bandits exchanged glances, their expressions ranging from surprise to anger and back again. Apparently their target wasn't as helpless as they had assumed.

"Eh, I got this," one of the bandits muttered, slowly edging towards Kenshin but staying just out of the samurai's reach. The tip of the sakabatou moved to follow his motion and he stared at the redhead incredulously. "What the fuck are you? D'ya think he senses vibrations in the ground or some shit?"

"Hell if I know. Take him down!"

The bandit smirked and hefted a small but weighty club. After all, he didn't want to KILL the pretty little samurai...not yet. Not while he still had his uses...and he was eager to get his hands on that lithe body.

This second attacker met as equally an inglorious end as the first. He darted in, low and to the side...and caught the sakabatou directly across the stomach. There was a crunch as ribs broke, and an even louder snap as the blade smashed back into his shoulder half a heartbeat later.

Kenshin staggered backwards even as the bandit dropped, unable to keep his feet any longer. The remaining bandits were heading for him en masse now, but they stopped in their tracks at what happened next. Kenshin fell backwards heavily into the wheel of the cart. There was a groaning snap as the half-rotted axle gave way, toppling the cart over. Kenshin's mouth opened in what would have been a scream if the breath hadn't been blasted out of his lungs as the heavy thing smashed down on his back. The samurai was no longer able to keep his tentative grip on reality and succumbed to unconsciousness.

"Well...fuck," one of the brigands finally grumbled. "We don't have time to fix the damn thing and the bastard's no good to us half-smashed."

"Eh, just stick with the original plan. Loot 'im and we'll leave 'im. It won't be hard to get another cart. Shame to leave somethin' so pretty behind, but we can't stick around too long. We ain't too far from the city, don't want to get caught. It's about time we get out of town anyway. Pawn off all the shit we've gotten lately and take a ship somewhere else before the police in the area catch on."

The others nodded and they went about the business of rifling through Kenshin's meager possessions and gathering the more important of their props before fleeing the scene.