Author's Notes:
Okay. Here you go. ^_^ Enjoy!

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Disclaimer:
Rurouni Kenshin is not mine. There characters in this fic, except for Masataka and Aihana, are not mine. I won't even dream of stealing them from their owners. They rightfully belong to Watsuki Nobuhiro and to other related parties, and it will remain that way forever and ever and ever.
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( ) = Thoughts
/ / = Flashbacks
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RavenMoon Presents
A Ruruoni Kenshi Fan Fiction

When Silent Rivers Cry
<Part 2>

Aoshi watched in wide-eyed silence as his father made his way through the attackers, slashing with fearsome detatchment and certainty. From one side of the dojo which still remained untouched by the flames, with his mother beside him, he saw how he joined in the dance of death, both wakizashi and katana out of their sheathes, the red of fire and the crimson of blood mixing together in an unusual glow.

From afar, he heard the screams of pain, the clashing of steal, and the roar of the blaze, which the gods seemed not to hear. It was like inferno on earth, and nothing could stop its demons from crawling out of their lairs to fill the country with darkness.

Then, it happened.

"Death to those who serve the shogun!"

Aoshi sharply turned to see a man with his sword raised overhead...a flash of green, of blue...of silver...
...then red.

Deep, oozing red.

The boy watched in shock as blood from the gutted man rushed underneath him, staining the earth with it, then looked up at his mother, her eyes grim, and her bloody tanto in hand.

"Aoshi", she whispered. "When I say so, run."

"I'm not leaving you, Okaasan," he answered.

"Who said that you're going alone?" Aihana asked with a smile on her lips.

(How ironic it is,) Aoshi thought. (The smile on Okaasan's face against the anger on her bloodied sword...)

Accepting the hand offered by his mother, the boy follwed her light, fleeting steps, their sound unhea--

"Get them!"

Everything happened in an instant -- there was a rustle of clothing as Aihana covered the child's eyes and Aoshi suddenly found himself looking at the white sleaves of Aihana's yukata, her fragrance wafting to his nose...the sound of metal cutting through flesh...death screams...the smell of blood...

Then, with eyes still covered, the boy felt himself being carried away...oh, he never noticed that there were subtle patterns on mother's yukata before...such fascinating intricacy...then he felt the wind outside being shut out as he heard the familiar sound of shoji closhing behind him.

The white was removed before him, and he found himself staring at he far walls of the dojo. Facing his mother, he saw her with her back to him, her clothing a bit tattered and dirty, and there were curious red spots on the soft fabric. Aoshi watched as she tried to wipe the peculiar stains on her arms and her face, after which she turned to him.

"Aoshi, we'll be staying her for a while, okay?"

The boy nodded dumbly. Taking his hand, Aihana led him to one corner of the dojo, where both of them huddled together.

From outside, there came echoes of clashing swords and dying screams.

"Okaasan?"

"Hm?"

"I'm scared."

Cupping her son's face with both her hands, Aihana looked at his shadowed face and gazed into his eyes.

"Aoshi-chan, it's all right to be scared. The truth is, Okaasan's scared, too." with a gentle smile, she brushed the bangs on his forehead. "Look, we're all in this together, right? No matter what you see, or what you hear...a few years from now, everything here will only seem like a bad dream, and everybody wakes up from bad dreams, right?"

Nodding once more, the boy wrapped his arms around her. Aihana sighed, and did the same, taking the child in her protective embrace.

Outside, a loud scream was heard above the rest, which then was suddenly silenced.

"Okaasan?"

"Hai?"

"Tell me a story."

"What story, Aoshi?"

"About the boy and Hotoke-sama..."

"Oh...very well. Listen closely, child..."

Amidst the mix of morbid silhouettes of death and flames on the shoji and the sounds of pain and anguish reverberating in the room, Aihana held her son tighter, and began her tale.

"In the olden, olden time, there was once in the province of Arashiyama a boy who was the son of one of the most renowned samurai in the region. He had a happy, contented life, until one night, a large group of evil people attacked their house and took everything with /them, even the lives of his mother and father.../

The door suddenly opened with a crash as a man entered with a drawn sword, the flames not far behind him. With a determined look on her face, Aihana stood up, her tanto whistling out of its sheath.

Yet, even as his eyes watched the swirl fo violence that was before him, he still heard the calm voice of his mother in his mind, just like when she would tell him tales before he flew off the the world of dreams...

/The villagers heard of the news and buried the husband and wife with great honors, but they did not hear anything about the boy, for he has already wandered off deep into the woods all by himself.../

There was a spray of blood on the floor before him as a gutted man fell at his feet with a dull thud. Aoshi's eyes widened in horror as he inched farther away and curled himself up into a tight ball.

/The poor boy had his dreams torn and his hopes shattered. He wanted to grow up to be great in whatever he wanted to do, with his family always beside him, but now, it all seemed to be just wishful thinking.../

His eyes stung, and Aoshi felt a certain wetness run down his cheeks. All that was before him was but a blur of crimson and flesh...and there's Okaasan what's that gash on her arm though they say I know too much for my age I still can't fully understand Okina-san you said it was just change and Otousan thank Hotoke-sama you're here help Okaasan fight off the --

/Saddened, the boy sat under a great fire tree in full bloom, and cried. Suddenly, there was a soft glow before him. Looking up, he saw the great Hotoke-sama gazing at him with gentle eyes.../

He had to stand up now. Flames were licking at the walls across him, and were making their way on to the roof. Numbly, he stepped over the carcass before him, slippin a bit on the blood that steadily oozed underneath it.

Nobody seemed to notice him for a moment. In horrified silence, he watched as the battle before him ensued. He saw his mother panting, gasping as smoke filled her lungs. But her grip remained steady and her attacks remained strong.

There was a distinct, cracking sound, and a part of the ceiling gave way, a large piece of it falling down on his father and --

"MASATAKA!!!"

His mother's wail was drowned by a loud crash. Aoshi could not move; he saw it hit his father on the right shoulder, saw him go down, blood...

/'Little boy', the deity said. 'Why do you weep?'/

/'Because I have nothing left, Hotoke-sama,' he answered. 'The bad people took my family away from me...'/

"Masataka!"

With a cry, Aihana ran toward her husband, eyes gleaming and blade flashing as she gave a wide slash to the man who tried to take advantage of Masataka's momentarily weakness.

The flames roared. Shakily, Masataka stood up, clutching his shoulder. Another royalist attacked, and the man fended him off with his wakizashi.

"Masataka! Catch!"

Looking up, he reached out his right arm amidst the antagonizing pain, and caught in his hand a kodachi. Smiling at his wife behind him, mouthing an 'arigatou' and an 'aishiteru', he faced his enemies.

Aihana pressd herself against the wall, the collection of inherited weapons beside her. It will have to do. It *must* do...

/'You are all alone then,' asked the Enlightened One./

/'Yes,' the boy replied. 'I am all alone...'/

The woman coughed. Where was his son? She had only left him in that corner a while ago, now where was he? With her heart beating hard in her chest, Aihana scanned the smoke-filled room for any sign of Aoshi, until she finally found him standing not a few meters away from her...standing before a man with his sword ready to fall on his head.

"AOSHI-CHAN!!!"

Aoshi felt numb...this man standing before him, with his bloodied blade raised...was he going to kill him? He heard his mother scream as if from far awaym and smelled the smoke as if it were from a dream...Okaa...what happened next in the story...?

/The boy's tears went flowing down his cheeks. 'Hotoke-sama, I had wanted to have greatness. And I wanted honor more than greatness. All to offer to my mother and father. But now that they are gone, what is the point of achieving all of these?/

It was all a blur...the blade...then Okaasan's yukata again...

Wait.

The fabric was supposedly white.

Why...why was it now red?

"O-Okaasan?"

Aoshi felt his mother's entire weight upon him, and he fell on his back. His mind groped for reality; no this wasn't happening. Why did she have to come between them? Now she's the once who was hurt.

"Okaasan. Stand up. Okaasan."

Why wasn't she moving? And...why was he feeling the warmth of that redness coming out of Okaasan? She's supposed to stand up now, right? Stand up...

"AIHANA!!!"

The young boy heard the loud, breaking voice of his father, and from the corner of his eye, saw him attack the man that once stood before him. There was a strangled scream, and he fell to the ground bathed in blood.

"Aihana! Aoshi!"

Masataka was just about to kneel before them, when suddenly, his eyes went wide and unfocused, and he fell face down on the floor, revealing a katana on his back, and a royalist standing behind him; the only one left of the infiltrators.

"That finishes you," he muttered, as he started towards him, pulling the sword out of Masataka's unmoving form. Looking up, he saw the boy staring at him.

"Oh. So we still have one alive."

Aoshi didn't move. He felt nothing. There was nothing, just a ravine in him that seemed to grow deeper and deeper by the minute.

Otousan...Okaasan...stand up...

Stand...up.

The man kicked his mother's body aside and knelt before him.

"Okay kid, I'll be doing you a favor," he said, drawing a dagger from his gi. "Since there's nothing left for you, I'll end it real quick."

Okaasan...the story...

/Hotoke-sama smiled. 'You said that there is no point in moving on. Are you saying that it would be better to die and get it over with?'/

/The boy nodded. 'Yes. I think so.'/

With a quick movement of his wrist, the man plummeted the dagger toward the boy --

-- but stopped inches before the young one's chest, as a bloodied tanto and a kodachi managed to plunge themselves into his flesh.

With expressionless eyes, Aoshi buried the blades deeper into the royalist, then pulled one downward and the other upward, the animal cry and ripping of skin filling his ears. When the voice died down, he simply pulled the tanto and the kodachi out and kicked the dead body away from him.

Blood bathed him, his face, his arms, everything. In his mind, he thought how come the flames were dying, and then realized it was already raining hard, and the downpour was slowly quenching the fire. Oh look at that great big hole in the roof. Otousan will have a hard time fixing it up again...

/In contrast to the boy's response, Hotoke-sama shook his head. 'No,' he gently murmured. 'When Karma takes everything away from you, it means that you still have something to do on your own. Death is not the answer, my child. You said you want greatness and honor, then you must achieve them on your own. The truth is, this is the first step to being a great man; learning to accept the things that happen, and knowing that they happen for a reason. Find out the reason for why this has happened, accept it, and you are on the road to your dreams.'/

/The boy gazed at the One before him in awe; the tears had stopped springing from his eyes. 'You're right,' he said, a small smile touching his lips. 'I have to move on. For the sake of my parents.'/

/'And also for yourself,' the deity added./

***