Lily in a Rainstorm
(possible name)
A Rurouni Kenshin Fanfic written by Nadejda Neklioudova. Special thanks to my
very good friend ‘Seijyuroh’ for ideas for this story.
All existing Rurouni Kenshin characters (such as Hiko Seijuro) copyright Watsuki
Nobuhiro. I’m only borrowing the characters, don’t sue me please... the
character Yuri created by me, Nadejda Neklioudova.
Note: the name "Yuri" means "Lily" in Japanese.
Another Note: my writing style is usually for one-scene 'feeling' fics, I'm not
used to writing stories with real plots...besides the basic idea wasn't even
mine, it was Seijyuroh's, I'm just writing what he suggested, and putting my own
little spin on it. So if this sounds really weird...email me and tell me so. :P
And yes I am aware that I am constantly switching tenses from present to past...
Timeframe: 25 years before the RurouniKenshin storyline now. (Hiko Seijuro is
eighteen at the moment, has just finished his HitenMitsurugiRyu training, of
course killing his master in the process)
Part 1 – Welcome to my Nightmare
written December 1, 1998.
Threads of moonlight sift through the web spun by interweaving tree branches
onto the damp grass of the forest floor. Most birds have retreated into their
nests for the night, and only the singing nightingale (Author’s Note: I don’t
know if there are nightingales in Japan..let’s just say there are :P) and the
occasional prowling fox disturbs the still silence of the sleeping summer
forest.
However, soon light footsteps are heard on the forest grass. The curious fox
quietly retreats into the protective bushes, but the tiny nightingale, who has
stopped his singing for a moment and cocked his head to the side to get a better
view, sees from his tree a person running on the seldom-walked-on night path.
Loose long hair streaming behind the stranger reflects the moonlight, but it
also obscures the rest of the person from the bird’s eye view. The nightingale
sees this as no immediate threat, loses interest, and resumes singing his night
serenade to the stars.
The curious fox, however, sees from his bush hideout a much clearer picture. A
young girl, around sixteen, with long dark hair falling onto her face and
streaming past her shoulders, breathes heavily as she runs as fast as her tired
feet can carry her through the forest. Her kimono is torn and blood-stained in
places and she has no shoes, but she pays no attention. She wipes the tears and
sweat off her face and continues on.
The fox wonders why a pretty girl like her would be running through the forest
in the middle of the night. The answer comes soon enough, and the fox quickly
runs away from the scene.
A cry of "There she is!" is heard in the noisy group of cloaked people armed
with swords, that come running and yelling close behind the girl. The girl’s
quiet cry of pain is heard as she falls onto the ground again, and ends up in a
thorny bush. Her pursuers pick up speed, and soon surround her.
The girl rips the sleeve of her already torn kimono off as she tries to free
herself from the prickly bush, steps back and finds herself mere inches away
from the sharp sword blade of one of the assassins. She gasps, tries to stand
still and control her fear.
"So here you are, Yuri." The man behind her hisses. He is wrapped in a black
cloak, not even moonlight falls on his covered face. "You’re a fast runner,
girl. You gave us a hell of a time chasing you all the way from Kyoto into the
middle of nowhere!" the man forcefully grabs her neck, and the girl named Yuri
chokes back a sob, as a few of the other men surrounding her laugh.
"Who...who are you? Who sent you?" Yuri finally whispers, trying to keep her
voice cold as steel. She stands still as a statue.
"Oh, I think you know the one who sent me very well..." the cloaked man says as
he walks around to face her.
Yuri shivers in realization. But then again, she knew it all along. "Father..."
"Smart girl," the assassin hisses again, letting go of her neck, but still
keeping his sword mere hairs away from it. He begins walking around her slowly,
like a cruel hunter that taunts a captured, frightened animal before making the
kill. He knows his prey will not escape this time. "Your father was right when
he said you were as pretty as a lily in a rainstorm." He runs his coarse hand
through a lock of her hair. Yuri jerks away, glaring at him. "And just as
fragile, it seems."
"Why did my father send you after me?" Yuri glares at the man, her voice
faltering.
"You were a mistake, an obstacle for his plans. He has gone insane, you know."
The assassin smirks. "But one’s trash is another’s treasure...I don’t mind
working for him as long as I can take advantage of his assignments." The man
grinned self-confidently, turning his katana so its cold blade touches Yuri’s
neck. He did not mind telling her all this information because he was confident
in his skills to kill – and weak, unarmed prey such as this girl was especially
easy to dispose of. And fun to torture.
Yuri felt like the assassin was slowly frying her on a cold fire, or sticking
spears of ice into her soul, searching for the weakest spot. She had been hated,
chased and threatened before, but this man had such a strong aura of pure,
hateful evil that Yuri had never before encountered. The group of thugs he
brought with him were ordinary, a moderately skilled swordsperson could easily
dispose of them. But this man was different. He probed her soul under his
hateful gaze, searching for a good spot to strike the killing blow, all the
while tying her spirit down with chains of evil, waiting for it to wilt and
surrender. And he was doing a very good job at it. Yuri shut her eyes and
clenched her teeth.
-----
Seijuro Hiko woke up again from a bloody nightmare, finding his head resting on
a very uncomfortable stump in the forest and a wild fox licking his face.
"Get away from me..." he said. "I said go!"
But the fox set its paw on Seijuro’s head and whimpered.
Seijuro, annoyed, threw his katana in its sheath at the fox. Its hilt hit the
animal, the fox turned and ran away into the night forest, looking back at the
young man like an offended child. The katana slipped out of the sheath,
revealing a blade covered in dry blood.
Seijuro groaned, got up, picked up the sword and shoved it back into its sheath
with a clang. He sat back on the stump, ignoring the world.
Until he heard a girl’s scream.
-----
Yuri could not hold back a cry as the assassin’s sword purposefully grazed into
her arm and was pulled back again. She was backed into a tree, the assassin
hovered in front of her like a vulture, and his group of thungs was closing in.
She still kept her eyes closed as she felt her warm blood slowly trickle down
her arm.
-----
The young man raised his head and looked around. Somehow a scream like that was
painfully familiar. Nothing changed in the forest surrounding him, still the
moon shone down sadly, as if pitying him.
Chasing away a ten-year-old memory, he got up again, katana in hand, but out of
his view. There was nothing else to do but follow the direction of the scream.
After all, he said to himself, he couldn’t just ignore it. Not again.
Seijuro stepped cautiously through the forest, until he saw the fox again. It
looked at him, as if saying ‘finally, you’re helping me!", and trotted away into
the forest. After a moment of thought, Seijuro decided to follow.
He soon came upon a clearing, and it took a minute for him to realize that those
figures in black he saw were men and not shadows or stumps. Well, they were
certainly still enough to be the latter, he thought. They surrounded a big tree,
and pressed against the tree trunk was a girl. A pretty girl, a bit younger than
he, with dark hair, in a torn white kimono, bloodstained. She held back another
scream as one of the men struck something at her, but she moved to just barely
avoid it. Seijuro saw the man closest to the girl pull that something out of the
tree trunk, and the moonlight helped see that it was a sword. In fact, all of
the men surrounding the girl had swords gleaming in the moonlight.
Seijuro drew his own katana, momentarily wincing at the sight of the blood on
it, and approached the group of men clothed in black. His master did not teach
him sword skills so he could waste them moping around, he thought. The last
thing the surprised thugs saw was a warrior slicing their life away with one
skillful strike of his sword.
The lead assassin turned, surprised, and Yuri dared to finally open her eyes.
She saw a tall, handsome, dark-haired young man in a white manto, wielding a
katana, and before him lay the bodies of the thugs. The only assassin left
turned from her and headed toward the young man, sword in hand.
"Who are you?" the assassin demanded.
"Dead men need not hear my name," Seijuro said.
"Dead?" the assassin laughed. "We’ll see, boy." He put his katana back into its
sheath, evidently preparing for a battou-jutsu attack. Seijuro mirrored his
movements.
Yuri dared not move and watched silently as the two swordsmen stood still,
swords ready, each waiting for the other to attack first. The assassin took this
as a joke, thinking the young man could not possibly be skilled enough to defeat
him. However Seijuro was dead-serious.
It seemed eternity to Yuri until they finally moved. Both katanas were drawn
simultaneously, and met with a metallic ringing. Half of one sword broke off,
flying high in the air, and hitting Seijuro in the shoulder. He didn’t even
flinch or notice. Yuri watched as the assassin panicked and tried to run off,
but was swiftly cut down.
Seijuro stood above the bodies of the assassins, staring blankly into nowhere.
Not bad for a first fight without his master, he thought.
Yuri sighed in relief. Then finally the tiredness and the shock of the whole
situation she just endured relatively calmly overcame her, and she collapsed
onto the ground.
Seijuro noticed her. He wiped his katana on the grass and sheathed it – ‘no good
disgracing my master’s blood with that of these thugs’, he thought. He walked
over, picked the girl up, pausing momentarily to admire her beauty, and began
walking back to the little house in the woods of Kyoto, wondering just how he
got himself into this, and who this girl was.
From the folds of the clothes of the assassin, a small black-winged reptile
crawled out. A smallpiece of parchment was tied to one of its legs. It spread
its skinny wings and flew off unnoticed in the direction of Kyoto.
To Be Continued!!!
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