Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Her ❯ The Road Back Home ( Chapter 8 )

Tenshi: I'm back, and with the 8th chapter! And it's only taken me 6 days! I'm so happy with myself! ^^

Sakura: Oh great, here it comes. First stop, ego boost.

Tenshi: Shut up. We went over this last chapter, so just do the disclaimer.

Sakura: But you told me to shut up.

Tenshi: Just do it before I use the almighty authoress' powers on you!

Sakura: Standard disclaimer applies.

Tenshi: STORY!

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Her

Ch 7: The Road back Home

Masako trudged through the deep mud, not caring in the least bit that her cream colored pants were slowly turning a chocolate color at the ends. She winced with each step, spiting out another ounce of blood every few minutes. The sun had risen over an hour ago, and her stomach was starting to churn from lack of nourishment. She'd need to find some food before she passed out. She knew that the blood she was losing wasn't helping the problem either.

She looked up, thankful that the rain had stopped. The sky had lost the fire it once had in the east. It was a beautiful sapphire, with little marshmallows dotting the vast ocean of blue. As she stared upward, she began to wonder why she was still alive. She should have died by now. She should have died thirteen years ago. Or, at the very least, she should have died ten hours ago. By many rights, she shouldn't have been there, but she was, and she didn't like it one bit. Her life seemed empty now. She had no friends, no family… nothing. She didn't even have a goal anymore. She began to wonder what it would have been like if she had killed Himura. It would all be the same… except she'd probably be in better shape than she was in now. She wouldn't be embarrassed by her loss, for one. But, she'd never thought of what she was going to do after she killed him… she had nothing to live for, other than revenge on her parents' murder. What was she supposed to do now?

Looking back at the road, Masako tried to imagine her home. She was so far from it now… and it had been months since she had last saw it. The little clearing with the pine trees. The little hut that she had made… the wild dogs running around…. Was that what she lived for, a clearing, some trees and a pack of wild dogs? Was that it? She had nothing. It was clear to her. She should just lay down in the mud, and wait for sweet death to come. End her pain, end her suffering, she should just lay there… maybe drown herself…? Then again, there was always her katana. She looked down at it. Her katana had always been there for her. That was the closest thing she had ever had to a friend. Maybe it would do her a favor and bring her suffering to an end…? Yes, her katana was loyal to her… it would help her no matter what….

Unsheathing her friend, she looked at the gleaming piece of metal. She could end everything in one foul swoop. Make all the evil go away… make everything right again. She was a manslayer… just… just like… no…. She had become the one thing she tried her best to stop. She looked at herself in the blade, disgusted. She wanted to make sure that no innocent life would have to suffer again… by getting rid of a manslayer…. But what had she herself become? She, who had killed many men… who enjoyed watching them "pay" for their misdeeds… she, who had smiled every time they squirted red bodily fluid. She had become what she had so long wanted to rid of. She was a manslayer…. And she knew that she had to pay for her own misdeeds.

Now that she had more than one reason to die, she brought the blade up to her neck.

"I'll end it all… make everything right again… I'll make the pain go away…."

She could feel the blade cut into her skin. Looking down, she saw more blood trickle down her front, over her right arm. Her sleeve fell back, so the blood seeped down and over the skin of her limb. Then she saw it. Her inspiration, the thing that had kept her going… her first injury from a fight… the scar that Himura had left that fateful day… when he had slashed her mother across the chest…. Angry with herself that she couldn't end his life again… she tried to bring the blade closer to her throat… but something prevented her from doing so, a tight grip on her arm. She felt whomever it was pull her arm away, taking her katana's blade from out of her neck. She failed… she couldn't do it….

Whipping her head around, she faced an angry looking Sanosuke.

"What the heck are you doing?!" he yelled.

"What… does it… look like… I'm doing?" she choked out, tears welling up in her eyes. She was in no condition to fight him… and it didn't exactly look like he was going to let her do what she wanted at the moment. She wasn't going to be able to make it go away… she was stuck with the pain… with the sorrow… with the emptiness.

Sano yanked her katana out of her hand and threw it into the mud. For once, the blade had acquired blood. He kept a hold on Masako's wrist. "It looks like you were about to do something stupid! That's what!"

Masako only looked at him, allowing the tears to fall… she didn't care anymore.

"It wasn't stupid, Sanosuke… no… I was going to do the world a favor… one less manslayer… that means… less deaths… people would be happier… things would be better."

"Has all that blood loss gone to your head?!" He screamed, seeing the look of slight insanity on her face.

"Yes, perhaps it has… it's made me smarter… I see it clearly… killing only leads to more unhappiness… no matter who you kill… so now I have to keep myself from killing… by ending my life…."

"Will you listen to yourself? You've got the first part right, but killing yourself would be like murder. Just because you've killed a few people doesn't mean you gotta kill yourself too."

"That isn't the only reason I'm going to end my life," Masako threw back as she snapped out of her daze, "I've got nothing to live for… why would I continue living?"

"I don't care! If I let you die, Kenshin'd kill me! C'mon, I'm taking you back to the dojo." Sano tugged on Masako's wrist, pulling her back the way she'd come.

"NO!" she screeched, "I'm not going back! I won't let you!" She pulled on Sano arm, trying to fight her way out of his grip. "Let me go!" she screamed.

"No way… I'm taking you there even if I have to drag you." With that, he heard a plop and mud hit his back. Turning around, Sano noticed that Masako had sat down in the mud and was waiting to be dragged. She felt dizzy already, and fighting his grip wouldn't exactly help anything. She reached out and grabbed her katana, wiped it off on what little clean clothes she had and sheathed it.

Sanosuke growled, remembered that Kenshin had asked him to bring her back if he found her, and began to drag her back to Tokyo.

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Tenshi: Well… that was interesting.

Sakura: That got a little scary at first. I thought you were going to end it right there.

Tenshi: Why would I do that? The pairing hasn't even shown up yet.

Sakura: Well, I guess we can use that to tell when you're going to end; right after a pairing shows up.

Tenshi: Yep, review please!

Heaven Sent Tenshi