From: pokemeowth@juno.com Hi minna! It's been a while since I actually posted a fic, ne? I wrote this totally on impluse last night after watching the eclipse and seeing the moon turn a darkish red. (Anyone else see it?) This just popped in my head and I jotted it down. Well, here it is.(i hate titles, i can never think of a good one so i just put down the one i put down that first came to mind) lily-dono ^-^ --------------- Slight spoilers for the OVA/Memories Arc, that is, if I got it correctly... --------------- Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin doesn't belong to me. Never have, probably never will. Standard disclaimers apply. ---------------- Eclipse by lily-dono ^-^ ----------------- Red. Blood red. The moon should be gone, but a crimson imitation takes its place. The moon was always a bright sphere in the night sky, providing the light in an otherwise pitch-black world. Perhaps, not pitch-black, since artifical lights, candles and lamps, now line the streets, within the houses. It was a bright sentinel, guiding wandering men through dark paths. Why is it the color of blood tonight? I know why. There are two causes. The first is that I rained blood again tonight. With the blade of my sword, I cut short the lives of several Shinsengumi men. Perhaps the blood fell upon the moon tonight and it has been stained. I have stained it. Or, when I was leaping and executing a Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu move with my sword in the air before crashing down and connecting with human flesh, I cut the moon. I wounded it and it now bleeds because of me. The second is because of the eclipse. I know that a lunar eclipse is cause by the moon, in its rotation, falling under the Earth's shadow. The dark shadow slowly envelopes it until it is completed covered like the Battousai slowly envelopes the Kenshin until all that remains is a merciless killer. Then, after about an hour, the moon leaves the shadow until the moon is returned like how after a kill, when I return home, I slowly become Kenshin again. During that time, the moon is a blood red due to the atmosphere filtering out the blue rays of the sun since the moon reflects the sun's rays. It doesn't give off its own light; it is like an extension of the sun, doing what the sun cannot. I am an extension of the Ishinshishi doing what my officials cannot. I understnad I am merely a pawn in their hands, but I use them to achieve the peace I want for Japan and if that means I must kill, so be it. Perhaps the moon uses the sun's rays to shed light on dark nights for the greater good, like me. In Battousai mode, I kill. I shed blood, the blood of others. My sword thirsts for blood and never seems to drink enough. When I kill, the taste of the metallic tinge of the life fluid fills my mouth and the scent fills my nostrils. Then, blood is all I can see, all I can feel, all I can sense. My sword draws blood and I have once again become the Hikotiri Battousai and I have taken the lives of others again. I never realized how much I am like the moon. I am often Kenshin, the man who cooks, cleans, and is good with children, yet once in a while, whenever I receive a black envelope, I leave on assignment. As I approach the enemy, the Battousai slowly takes over and when it is over, it leaves me. Perhaps the moon and I share bond and it bleeds whenever I rain blood. However, of all the times I have rained blood, why is this the first time it is red? I finger the freshly made wound on my cheek. I learn that a man named Akira Kiyosato was the one who managed to leave a mark on me, the only one. Perhaps this is kami-sama's way of warning me. After all, it is up in the heavens where kami-sama is known to reside. There is something about this scar and it may be a bad omen, but I will never know, ne? I will never know until the time comes and its secret is unfurled, for only time will tell. The scar has finally stopped bleeding and I look up at the sky again. Miraculously, the moon is reappearing again. A cold breeze blows past me, forcing me to clutch my gi closer for warmth. The crimson color is fading. Should I take that as a good sign? I may never know. It is growing late and I have been out in this cold for a long time. It will not help me or the Ishinshishi for me to be sick. Katsura will never let me live it down. The thought cracks a smile on my face as I cast one last, longing look up to the heavens, pleading for an answer. "I'll be back the next time you are the color of blood and maybe by then I will find my answer." ~OWARI~ ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! 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