Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Prisoner of War ❯ Slave ( Chapter 1 )

Hello my loyal readers! Well, my internet is still down so this story won't be updated as quickly until I get it back. You can still expect at least one or two updates a week though so have no fear. This is an AU story about Rurouni Kenshin. I decided to write about it when we were talking about Sparta and Athens in my Sociology class. Think of all the cities in Japan as city-states. Kyoto is much like Sparta in as much as it's really into war. Edo (that's the old name for Tokyo) is more like Athens. In Kyoto, many slaves are used as soldiers. Well, that's pretty much all the information you need right now. Oh, if Kenshin seems a little OOC, please forgive me. He's very Battousai for most of the story and if Kaoru seems too weak, that's because the women in Edo/Athens were taught to be submissive. Ok, enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kenshin although I would really like to.

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Even if the woman hadn't been yelling, the people sleeping in the huts around her would have been awoken by the little boy's screams. Many villagers poked their heads out their doors for a moment to see what was happening. Upon seeing the guards, though, they quickly went back inside. Despite their best efforts to ignore the woman's cries, they still came pouring in through their thin walls.

"Please stop! Please don't take my baby!" She was on her knees begging the guards. They held her ten-year-old son down. The boy was unnaturally strong, and it took a man on each limb and one at his head just to keep him from squirming away. One of the remaining guards was leaning over the screaming boy's face.

"Please! I'll do anything! Just please let him go!" The guard snapped his head up. The sneer on his face stopped her voice in her throat. He started to laugh at the astonished woman.

"Well, ma'am, if your husband had paid off his debts before he died then this wouldn't be happening." She got up to run to her son, but another guard held her back.

"We've given you everything we have!" The guard smiled again and pulled out a short dagger.

"And it wasn't enough. So we will take your son." The guard dragged the dagger down the boy's left cheek. He cried out in pain. He was trying to form words but it wasn't working. He just wanted to get away from these men and this pain. Then the guard dragged the dagger across his face again forming a cross-shaped wound. The boy screamed again but no one helped him. His mother was struggling in another guard's arms, and he was pinned to the ground, bleeding profusely. The cuts were deep. His blood dripped down his face and mixed with his red hair. The guard stared down at him.

"Now you are the property of Kyoto. Don't you ever forget that."

Kenshin woke up in a cold sweat. He was having that dream again. Almost every night since it had happened he had dreamt about that day. For many months he had hoped to wake up in his own bed with his mother in the next room. He had hoped for the longest time that it was just some extended nightmare. He reached up and felt the scar on his left cheek. It was his brand. All the men who were slaves of Kyoto had one. It let the whole world know that they were not people but property. He looked around his small tent. The three other men who shared it with him were still asleep. He rose and went outside. Around him were hundreds of tents and small fires. Each one contained three or four soldiers. They had been battling with Edo for some time now and this was their camp. Beyond the small hill in front of them was the battlefield. Neither side had made much headway in the past few weeks, but they fought anyway. Giving up the field that lay there meant defeat, and neither the general of Kyoto nor the general of Edo would tolerate defeat. Kenshin had been in the army for nine years now and he knew that better than almost anything. The generals would sacrifice as many lives as need be. Kenshin didn't care much. He was the best soldier in Kyoto's army. He easily took out ten to fifteen times as many men as anyone else. He sighed as he watched the sun begin to peek out from its nightly resting place. Battle would begin soon.

"Battousai! Battousai is that you?" Kenshin turned when he heard that name. He was one of the few slaves privileged enough to be called by a name. It wasn't his real name though. They gave it to him at the age of fourteen when he mastered an impressive sword style and began to show his cunning in murdering people. Battousai was short for Battousai the Manslayer. That was his real title. That's what everyone called him. Kenshin was dead. Kenshin died at the hands of a guard who cut the scar into his face. The guard was dead too though. Battousai's first assignment was to kill a crooked guard. The man who scarred him had gotten in the way of his sword. This was almost true. The man who scarred him stood there as a sword came from nowhere and took off his head. But the target was also killed quickly so the officials praised Battousai. That was the beginnings of his career. He turned to see the voice that was calling him.

"Oh, Sojiro. Yes it is me." The boy walked up to him and smiled. That smile made Kenshin nervous. It was always on his face. Even in the midst of battle or while the screams of men in agony surrounded him Sojiro smiled. His face was unblemished though. He was there because he wanted to be. It was not a forced position.

"The general says that we should wake everybody up because the battle will begin shortly. I came to ask if you were ready, but I forgot that you're always ready. Well go and wake the east side of camp." Sojiro turned to the west and walked away. Kenshin turned back to the rising sun. He placed his hand on his swords. Sojiro was right. He was always ready for battle. Even when he slept, the swords never left his side. He sighed and moved around the tents. The sun glinted in his amber eyes. He would be fighting soon. Then he could be killing. That's all he really wanted to do.

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A/N: Okay guys, do you like it so far? Please review!