Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Black Shadow, Piercing Light ❯ Black Shadow ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Rurouni Kenshin all belongs to Sony, Jump, Watsuki and other folks.

***Oh, and the idea of a certain prison guard was influenced by Fatal Love.

Hi, this story is AU and kinda OOC, buts it's sorta what I think they might be like if they lived in this era. Probably spoilers for character's identity, but it's AU so events are different. This first chap might be a little angsty, but I think this story will have a bit of everything Drama, WAFF, angst, humor. So enjoy and please, I beg of you REVIEW! I NEED IT!!! Flames are welcome, but be gentle towards my fragile heart.

Black Shadow, Piercing Light

Chapter One

Kenshin gazed out of the small window just a few feet above his head. There was not much to see, just the occasional insect , then the watch tower, far away. If he were lucky, a bird might land nearby. His cell was located below the ground for the most part. His window ended where the grass began, giving him an underling's view of the world. 'Fitting' he thought, 'These eyes cannot properly honor beauty, it's only right that I should be underground, in Hell.'

Kenshin's thoughts were a strange mix of myriad emotions. Nervousness, fear, anticipation, and trepidation all plagued his soul.

"Soon, I will be out there again," He said as he looked out the window towards the sky. Ten years, Was it enough? Kenshin let his eyes slowly drop to his hands. His callused hands had done so much, and yet so little in his twenty eight years, most of which he was sure wasn't any good. Maybe this time, maybe I can atone for what I've done, when I get on the outside. Maybe…

Kenshin could feel those old familiar feelings of regret, and guilt began to compress his heart. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to force the bitter memories away, away from his heart. He could feel it; the dream was coming back to him. Lately, as the time for his release grew nearer the dreams had began to come to him while he was awake. Sleep was never an escape from the pain, if he dreamt, he usually had nightmares. He often found a little solace by giving himself mundane activities while he was awake, but even that was not working. Was he, afraid? Afraid to be released to the world?

'I am a monster. Creatures like me need to be locked away in cages.' Lying down on his cot, Kenshin stared up at the ceiling. "You are so pathetic. Foolish, to be afraid of a dream." Kenshin closed his eyes. With his stomach regretfully full from the prison mush, he let himself drift off to sleep.

Oozing, wet, dark blood filled the recesses of his brain. Kenshin was hot; his skin felt wet and itchy, his throat dry and parched. Stumbling in a dark void, blinking blood shot eyes, he tried not to focus on the strange feeling of blood oozing through his brain, he could feel the blood seeping into every crevice. With a trembling hand he vigorously rubbed his face, trying to rid himself of that unpleasant feeling, like ants were crawling around inside his head. He groaned in desperation, lowering his hand to his wet forearm, attempting to dry it. Looking down he discovered the wetness was caused by blood. His stomach twisted. The more he rubbed his arms, the more blood seemed to appear. Kenshin flung himself in a circle in frustration. His eyes twitched in anger, the substance was a part of him.

"Arrgghh!" He screamed at the top of lungs, rubbing his arms all over his body, in attempt to get clean.

The blood continued to ooze inside oh him. The bloody ants were real. They began to crawl out through his eyes, and down his face. Kenshin moaned, falling to the dank ground and shut his eyes tight as tears began to stream down his face, the strange feeling of sharp teeth nimbling his leg grabbed his attention, just as he jerked his head toward this new pain, a clammy hand gently clamped down on his shoulder. Turning he saw the pale face of a bloody corpse smiling at him. Jerking back in alarm, thrashing to get away, he became painfully aware that several other corpses had gathered around him, nibbling on his arms, his legs, his throat. Kenshin bucked and thrashed to no avail. His desperate cries were muffled as the corpses began to wrap themselves around his thrashing body. Kenshin looked up as he felt warm droplets of red bloody rain, descending upon him in the midst of the dead bodies. There she was, pale and beautiful, eyes… as black as coal. The bloody rain, fell in thick hard splotches, staining her lovely face.

"Look, Kenshin, it's raining."

"Mou!" the young girl said, letting out a breath.

Kamiya Kaoru stared at the gray walls. Sighing, she squirmed in her hard chair, trying to achieve some semblance of comfort. Kaoru hated prisons. And jails, and courtrooms, she hated particularly anything that had to do with law enforcement. They reminded her of her father…Even, so maybe supporting her friend was worth missing a little school.

"Tousan", Kaoru breathed as she let her head drop between her legs. Normally, she tried to stay as far away from places like this, but she had sensed that her good friend Megumi didn't want to go alone. Not that she could blame her. What kind of friend did Megumi have in a maximum-security prison? Recalling their earlier conversation, Megumi simply stated he was someone that had helped her when in a time of need. Kaoru knew very little about Megumi's past, she didn't feel it her place to pry. She knew how painful the past could be and if Megumi wasn't ready to talk, she was fine with that. She wondered if this visit had anything to do with that prison guard Sano, Megumi had been talking about.

Kaoru glanced up at her beautiful friend. 'Kirei', Kaoru thought. Megumi was both beautiful, and intelligent. She also possessed a strong heart. Sometimes she made Kaoru feel self conscious and inferior. Megumi was worldly and intelligent. So often Kaoru just felt like her shadow.

"Oi, Tanuki!" Megumi snapped.

Kaoru snapped her head up, glaring at the fox-lady. "Nani?" she muttered as she heard the lock on the door jingle.

"They're bringing Ken-san, only one visitor at a time, you'll have to get out," she replied pertly.

Kaoru's protests were halted as the door swung open and, a young man, flanked on either side by two muscular guards one of which had spiky hair and was chewing…a fishbone? The other had tall blond hair, which reminded Kaoru of a broom. 'I thought prison guards had to adhere to a dress code,' Kaoru thought. However, her attentions were quickly grabbed as she laid her eyes on the most exotic man she had ever seen. He had long, flowing red hair, somewhere between the color of fire and blood. His eyes were a deep shade of lavender. Despite his beauty, once Kaoru looked into his eyes, her heart was pricked to the core. They were red and his shoulders sagged, for a second his eyes looked wet and far away, he almost looked as if he would…

"Ken-san!" Megumi, gushed, interrupting Kaoru's thoughts.

"What about me?" the spiky haired guard said.

"I came to see Ken-san, Sano, not some no-count free-loading chicken-head." Megumi said with a sly smile.

"Nani?!" Sano gruffly replied.

"Maa, maa, It's been a while, Megumi dono," Kenshin said quietly, looking up as he smiled brightly.

Kaoru blinked at that sudden transformation, glancing up at Megumi, she wondered if she noticed it too. But Megumi seemed oblivious as she sauntered over to Kenshin. Immediately the blond guard stepped in front of Kenshin.

"There will be no physical contact with the prisoner woman, sit" The man looked down at Megumi menacingly while pointing to her chair.

"Humph." Megumi tossed her long back hair over her shoulder and sat down. Normally she would have given the guard a mouth-full, but she didn't want to cause trouble for Kenshin.

The guard smirked and gave Megumi a once over, "To bad for you eh?" He glanced at Kenshin. "I'd wanna taste that too. Ten years is a long time." The guard pushed Kenshin roughly, clamping down on his shoulders and slamming him into the seat. Kenshin tensed, and Kaoru gasped as she looked into his eyes. For a second, they looked a little… yellow?

"Oi! Have some respect you filthy bastard! He hasn't done anything!" Megumi slammed her hand down on the table.

"Watch it, Bitch." the blond guard smirked. At that moment Kenshin, stood up with such force and speed his chair hit the ground and the blond guard fell backward, his shoulders were taught, his jaw set in a fierce snarl, and Kaoru was shocked once again at this transformation, she almost thought she heard a low growl rumble out of the red-head's throat. Kaoru wondered what Kenshin would have did if Sano hadn't stepped in between and jerked the blond man up by his collar and off his feet.

"Shut that shit up less' you want me to introduce your cracked teeth to the floor!" Sano snarled as he threw the man against the wall. Kenshin jerked his head away, from shame and anger. Did he just growl? 'I've got to handle myself better than this.' He did not want Megumi and Sano to see the shame or the guard to see the flashes of amber in his eyes. By now, everyone knew, especially the guards, that amber eyes were a sign of his anger. He could pick a fight, unwittingly or not with his eyes alone. The news of his parole had him acting strangely enough, given that everyone wanted to pick a fight with Battousai before he got out, but ever since this morning's dream he had been feeling even more irritable and on edge, but he didn't want any fights today, so close to his parole, even though he felt like giving this man a slow and painful death, for his disrespectful words. Kenshin had learned long ago from experience that there were several ways to kill a man… despite having one's hands and feet cuffed and chained.

The guard picked himself up and straightened his clothes. "Shit, Sano, just havin' some fun," the guard replied none to pleasantly. With a scowl, he walked out the door. "Just watch it Himura, one false move and you're back in Cell D."

Cell D, in other words solitary confinement. Kenshin loved and hated Cell D. At good times it was a sanctuary, sealing him off from the world, insuring that he could hurt no one and nobody would hurt him. A place of quiet, were he could meditate. During bad times, Cell D was just a dark cage that allowed all of his sick thoughts to resurface and bring out that side of him that he would rather stay buried. Kenshin swallowed hard and held his breath, as he slowly lowered himself to his seat. He was painfully aware that all eyes were on him.

"Sumanu, g-gomenasai," he stuttered, trying to calm his raging emotions.

Kaoru twitched in her seat, wondering if she had been forgotten in the chaos. Her heart fluttered a bit, but silence wasn't her thing, she had to say something.

"Baka!" Kaoru exclaimed pointing at Kenshin. "How dare you apologize?! It wasn't your fault, it was that jerky guard!"

For the first time, Kenshin noticed the striking young girl setting a few feet away from Megumi. Her long raven hair was tied in a high ponytail. Even in a ponytail, her ebony tresses cascaded down her back, nearly reaching her hips. Thick lashes framed her sapphire eyes, her creamy white skin, accented by full pink lips. Her eyes were fierce, yet pure. Kenshin allowed himself to feel her ki. Her spirit reverberated a fullness and innocence he had never felt before. 'A warrior. Iya, she is much more…'

'Sessha wa Baka,' Kenshin pleasantly thought. 'How could I not notice this fierce little angel?'

Kenshin returned her stare one hundred fold, longing to see more of what she was. Kenshin often avoided eye-contact when he wasn't fighting. He knew his eyes often betrayed his true heart, which was something not so readily shared. For some reason, the feel of her ki made him feel at peace, perhaps he could trust her.

For a moment lavender met sapphire in an intense gaze. Kaoru felt her heart skip a beat. 'He looks as if he's trying to grap my soul!' Although she was embarrassed to the point of no return and a little scared, she refused to tear her eyes from his heated gaze.

"Oi!" Sano boomed. "Snap out of it," Sano said, as he smacked Kenshin across the head.

"Oro!"

Sano looked at Megumi, and cocked his head towards Kaoru. "Who's the kid? I didn't know you were baby-sitting."

"W-What was that?!?!" Kaoru said as she slammed her purse into Sano's face with blinding speed.

"Oro!"

"Oohohohoh!" laughed Megumi.

'So the little angel has a temper. This is certainly going to be an interesting visit,' Kenshin thought as he watched Sano rubbing his now red and bruised face.

Super's note:

So what's the deal yo? If you got deep ideas about this fic, or stuff you'd really like to see happen review or e-mail me. Peace+Love!

-Super J