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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. The character and general plot are my idea, but Seijyuroh helped finalize it a bit. But if this sounds really weird...email me and tell me so. :P And yes I am aware that I am constantly switching word 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 3 – Light Shaded Dream
Written by Nadya Neklioudova January 30, 1999
The morning birds were singing their little hearts out to the sun when Yuri finally found the forest stream. It was a clear river, a small playful stream flowing down the mountain in the direction of Kyoto. Yuri sighed as she sat down on its shore, dangling her feet in the water while collecting her thoughts. She was miraculously saved from her father’s assassins by this Seijuro Hiko. And she didn’t even ask for this miracle. She expected to die that night, in fact. What could the stars have in store for her now? she wondered. And who is her savior really? He didn’t seem like one of her father’s men. He was...too caring. Too honest, even despite his steel-cold appearance. He seemed sincere in rescuing her and keeping her safe. She would’ve figured out by now if he was lying to her. Goodness knows, she’s experienced with telling lies apart, she thought. She’s had to do that all her life to keep alive...
Maybe she was still being paranoid, she thought. Maybe Seijuro really didn’t have any hidden agenda. Maybe he is the first really honest person she has ever met... why question honesty?
But that still doesn’t explain why she immediately trusted him, she thought. It wasn’t like her. Trust had not been a part of her life since her mother died. Yuri sighed. Maybe she just needed someone to trust, and accepted the first person who seemed honest...but why him? Sure, he was rather handsome...very much so, actually, she grinned to herself. But...
‘No ‘but’s, Yuri,’ she thought to herself. ‘You went to get water to wash out Seijuro’s wound, so get the water and hurry back.’ Her mind that was so used to running away immediately suggested to her that this was the perfect opportunity to escape. But she immediately shoved that thought to the back of her mind. 'Yuri, he got injured because of you. You even said you owe him,’ her conscience told her. ‘You promised.’
Yuri finally got up, wiped her wet feet on the forest grass, kneeled down again, and scooped a bucketful of water up. Setting the full bucket down beside her, she scooped up some water in her hands to wash her face.
However, the water never reached her face. She heard a slight noise in the rustling leaves across the river. Her head jerked up instinctively to see what it was, hoping against hope that it would be some kind of forest animal coming down to drink.
It wasn’t. A person, completely clothed in black, sat in the bushes across the river. Because of the contrast of black clothing and green leaves, Yuri noticed him through the bushes. However the mysterious person only realized he had been seen a few seconds too late – Yuri leaped up, grabbed the water bucket, and ran with her quickest possible speed toward the thicket of trees a few meters away.
The trees she escaped to were along the river shore – after all, she couldn’t just run straight to Seijuro’s house. There was no need of endangering him as well, no matter how good a swordsman he was, Yuri thought as she hid in the bushes, making the least noise possible.
‘Damn,’ she thought, though it was unlike her to swear. ‘Damn. Just when I thought I was finally safe!’ Yuri thought angrily, her eyes peeled to the spot where she last saw the person in black. ‘So...unfair!’ But she’ll have time for complaining later, she thought. Her first priority was getting out of here without being seen.
However, to her surprise, she didn’t need to – the man in black crawled backward through the bushes, then stood up and ran away from her through the forest. She momentarily wondered why, but then figured that that was all the man needed – to find out where she was.
‘I thought Seijuro killed the assassins!’ Yuri thought. ‘I knew it was too good to be true...what kind of a swordsman is he?’
She sighed, got up well after the man was out of sight, and headed quickly up the hill, back to Seijuro’s house. Suspicions again crept into her mind.
However when she found Seijuro sitting by the window exactly the same way she left him, she pushed suspicions back into her mind. The young man didn’t seem like he knew anything more than she did...and she would figure out by now if he was in league with the assassins, she thought.
Yuri only caught his attention when she set the now half-full water bucket on the floor. Seijuro’s head turned to her. "Did anything go wrong?"
‘How does he know!’ Yuri thought frantically, and glanced around, waiting for the perfect moment to dash out the door.
But Seijuro remained unmoving. "It’s written all over your face," he said simply.
‘Of course, he’s a swordsman,’ Yuri thought. ‘He’s trained to read people by their expressions. And I was gone for a while...’
Still she hesitated a bit before saying "Uh, no, nothing is wrong." She glanced at Seijuro cautiously again before going to the cupboard and getting a roll of bandages out. She still thought of dashing out the door and running away, but something held her back. Whether it was the fact that she ‘owed’ to help Seijuro, or her strange trust of her savior, she stayed. Approaching him with the water bucket and bandages, she said "now let me look at that wound."
Seijuro finally moved, his good arm setting his sheathed katana against the wall. He let the manto drop to the floor, revealing his blood-stained shirt. With some hesitation and an involuntary blush creeping over her face, Yuri carefully removed part of Seijuro’s shirt off his shoulder, just enough to reveal a nasty, deep sword-cut. Yuri frowned at it, then marvelled at how much self-control the young man must have to ignore the obvious pain the wound was causing him.
Seijuro winced when Yuri brought a wet cloth to wash out the cut. ‘So he isn’t made of steel,’ Yuri thought to herself.
There was an awkward silence while Yuri cleaned Seijuro’s wound, until he finally asked "So...why were you hunted down?"
"Frankly, I don’t know." Yuri answered, getting the bandages. "My father isn’t quite...sane. He has never revealed his purposes to me, probably because he would know I would try to stop him. He...killed my mother because she tried to...s-so..." an involuntary tear ran down Yuri’s cheek, which she wiped away hastily. She started bandaging Seijuro’s shoulder.
"Seems like he doesn’t want to kill you himself..." Seijuro said thoughtfully.
"Exactly, so he sent his men to kill me!" Yuri snapped. "I’ve been hunted ever since my mother died...a few years ago..." Yuri sniffled, turning her facial expression to stone. "I..."
"Don’t talk about it if it hurts you so much, "Seijuro suddenly said as he turned to face her. "I understand enough."
Yuri tied the bandage on Seijuro’s shoulder, and he put his shirt and manto back on. "There, I’m done," she said, and got up.
"Thank you. Seijuro said, turning away. ‘Why am I being so emotional around her?’ he wondered. This wasn’t what the normal person would call ‘emotional’ in the least, but for Seijuro it was a start.
"You know...you were right." Yuri said, putting the bandages back into the cupboard. "Something did go wrong."
Seijuro glanced up at her, still sitting at the window.
"They found me," Yuri sighed.
To Be Continued...