What we do in the beginning

[katananokokoro]

Date: February 7th, 2060
Time: Early morning-mid afternoon
Place: Kenshin's safehouse, New Meiji Lower Districts
Characters: Kenshin, Megumi, Saitoh



The road went on. Snow crunched under his feet, chilling them. Icy fingers slid along his arms, trickled down the back of his neck. He couldn't stop walking. Weary. Bent. His sword leaving red trails on the snow, red petals in the air.

You did this

Aa

He tripped and nearly fell. The snow jabbed at his hand like needles. A mouthful clutched in his palm, pressed in his mouth to hide his breath, but it was hot. It was all hot and cold at the same time and he was looking...Searching... No... Following. Just ahead. There she was. The woman with the long black hair. He wanted to reach for her. Wanted to step away. His hands... they weren't meant to touch. They were only meant to kill. She turned slightly as if she had heard his step, paused and he could see a cell phone pressed to her ear.

"You can't stay out here," he told her. "It's dangerous."

"I have to. Hello? Hello?!" Her voice rose in desperation. "Is he hurt?" And then she pinned him with wide dark eyes. "I'm looking for Sa-chan."

No. No! The darkness snapped around them. Just the two of them. The snow.

"Sa-chan. I'm looking for Sa-chan!"

"No, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Sa-chan!"

Comments

[katananokokoro]

Kenshin’s attention was dragged to the lean man as he spoke, the sniper’s rifle held loosely in his wide hands, smoke curling from the muzzle. He had something…? What…?

The tablet.

They had come for the tablet.

They had come for the tablet and Megumi—was—

“Pity huh?” the lean man’s gaze slid to Megumi and Kenshin felt the man’s pleasure spike, could see it in his grip, the dilation of his eyes, the way his grin widened. He had wanted to kill her. Even knowing she was innocent. Just for the pure undiluted pleasure.

Anger filled Kenshin, radiating from his bones, a kind of ancient fury that slipped over him, through him, cold and sharp as a blade. The world sharpened as if he’d taken a hit. Everything fell into stark detail. He could see the cops shift. Hear the twitch of their muscles and the thud of their hearts. They were all calm, arrogant, except for the tiny pinprick of fear near the back. The lean man slowly turned his head back to look at Kenshin, his pulse jumping giddly under his neck. The lean man’s grin twitched as a drug kicked in, his eyes pools of black.

“I hope you paid the stupid—“

“Your life is already forfeit,” Kenshin said, shifting his stance. “As for the rest of you, I’ll return the tablet,” he told the other cops, who were already starting to fumble epi pens from their sleeves. “But if you plan to fight I’ll show you no mercy.”

“Have this for mercy,” the lean man said and Kenshin pivoted before the man had even lifted the rifle, drawing Kitetsu even as he spun to get momentum. The blade came free and he saw the bullet, a black shot before the blade snapped through it, sending the two pieces spinning in different directions and slamming into the wall.

He shifted to the side as another bullet shattered the wall and glared at the police behind the lean man, not bothering to shield his ki. They startled like a line of deer. Froze. Someone yelped. A line of sweat ran down the lean one’s face and he jammed another epi pen in his arm.

“I’m not afraid of you, you bastard!” the lean man screamed, running forward, reaching for a blade at his back. Kenshin cut his head off. Almost unaware of how he did it. The lean man fell to the ground, not even a sliver of knife pulled from the sheath at his back. Blood from his neck soaking into the concrete.

“If you kill like an animal than you deserve to be slaughtered like one,” Kenshin said, flicking the blood from his blade and ducked as the others opened fire.