From: Tatsuko <tatsuko@xoommail.com>

Hi all! 

        First of all, an apology to those who have been waiting for this. 
Gomen nasai for the delay! *bows apologetically*
        Anyway, here's Chapter 6, a.k.a. the flashback chapter from jigoku. 
-_-;; I keep poking it and poking it and I just can't get it anything 
close to want I want. In fact, I'm almost embarassed to be posting this as 
it is, but *sigh* here goes nothing...
     It turned out so long I decided to split it into two parts to make it 
more managable. Oh, and as I had mentioned before, I put a "Making of the 
characters" bit at the end of this chapter as a sort of experiment. If I 
decide to do it for any other characters, they will probably not be as long 
as this first one...
        Thanks to Risu-chan for her comments, encouragement, etc. And for 
suggesting the song I put at the beginning of this chapter. And thanks also 
to all of you on the ML who are bothering to follow this fic and comment on 
it. I really do appreciate it.
        If anyone would like the previous chapters, just e-mail me and
I'll send 'em to you. (And you really _do_ need them if you haven't 
read them yet...Otherwise, you'll be thoroughly confused)
        As always, comments, criticism, corrections, suggestions, etc. are
all welcome and encouraged! Especially on this chapter, since I can't get 
it how I want. >.<
        
                                ~*****~

        Ami smiled a little. "I'm not deaf, just hearing impaired," she
said, looking down at the floor. Noone spoke for a long moment. Then in a
quiet, nervous voice, she asked: "Umm...Would you mind telling me...Where
am I? And...What year is it?"

        Somewhere in the shadows right outside the clinic, Matsuno
grinned. 
                                                               
*********************************************************
What Times May Come
Chapter 6: Ami's Story
By Tatsuko (Tatsuko@xoommail.com)
8/23/99
*********************************************************

Disclaimer: All Rurouni Kenshin Characters belong to Nobuhiro
            Watsuki-sensei (all hail). All other characters belong to me.
            Please just ask before posting somewhere. ^_^

< >   = Thought

A list of Japanese terms follows the fic.

                                *****               

As I walk the room, there before me: a shadow
from another world, where no other can follow.
Carry me to my own, to where I can cross over--
close to home? I cannot say.
Close to home, feeling so far away...

  ~ "Evening Falls" by Enya
    (Thanks to Risu-chan for showing this to me! Fits perfectly!)

        
        Ami looked around at the confused, surprized faces of the people
in front of her and wondered if they thought she was insane for asking
such a question. <I can't say I blame them. I'd probably think I was crazy
too.>
        "Ano..." The girl with the long black ponytail spoke up. "This is
Tokyo, and it's Meiji 11 of course. Why do you ask?"
        Ami's face went a little pale and she leaned against the doorway.
        "Um, are you OK?" the doctor asked her. 
        "I, I don't know," she replied weakly. <This has _got_ to be a
dream>, she thought. <A dream where I feel pain? But how else can I
explain why I'm over 100 years and half a world away from home?> She'd had
plenty of vivid dreams before. None of them had been _this_ realistic, but
still... <Or maybe it's not a dream. Maybe it's because of...> She shook
her head. <Don't be a fool. That story was just that, a story. A myth, a
child's fairy tale.> But dream or no dream, story or no story, the fact
remained that this at least seemed real, and she was still there. In
Tokyo. In Meiji 11.
        And she had no idea how to get back home.
        She sighed and slid down to the floor. <They're never going to
believe this> she thought. <But if it's just a dream, it doesn't matter,
and if by some impossibility it's not a dream, then...I can definitely use
all the help I can get.> She looked up. "I can tell you what I know, but I
don't think you're going to believe it. First of all, I'm from America..."
        "Well, that's not too hard to believe," Kaoru offered. "You seem
to speak Japanese pretty well, though."
        "Thanks," Ami said, smiling a little. "I learned from my dad,
who's Japanese."
        "Is your father also the one who taught you kenjutsu?" Kenshin
asked.
        Ami nodded. "Yeah. I begged him to train me ever since I was big
enough to hold a bokken." A nostalgic smile crossed her face. "At first, I
used a bokken, but I was so eager to use a real sword. I kept bugging my
dad and training hard to prove I was ready. Finally he gave in and gave me
this." She indicated her kogatana. "And I started helping him teach at the
doujou."
        "Ara? I didn't know that there were Japanese sword schools in
America," Kaoru said.
        "My father started the doujou when he came to America...in 1975,"
Ami explained.
        "1975?"
        "Sou. That would be..." Ami did a quick calculation, "almost 100
years from now."
        Confused, skeptical looks crossed all three faces. "But..."
Kaoru's voice trailed off as she searched for what to say.
        "I know, it sounds crazy to you," Ami began. "But believe me, up
until a day or so ago, I was living in America, in the year 1999, 120
years from the year you say it is. The last thing I remember before I
ended up here was walking home from the doujou, and getting caught in the
rain..."

                        *** Begin Flashback 1 ***

        Ami cursed the fast-changing weather as she ran down the muddied
trail. It was not much more than a mile distance between the doujou and
her home, but it was more than enough to get her soaking wet, even in a
light rain. When it started thundering, she was almost glad she'd taken
her hearing aids out during practice and hadn't bothered to put them back
in; it reduced the booming thunder to a dull rumble. <And at least we'll
be back on solid street again soon> she thought. She kept her eyes glued
to the tall, dark-haired man in front of her and kept on running.
        She saw one lightning bolt then another, followed by one which
seemed even brighter than the others. Her eyes were just recovering from
the sudden flash when she noticed - too late - that she was about to run
into someone. 
        Ami couldn't stop herself in time; she slammed into him - or was
it her? - at full speed. She lost her footing, and her momentum sent her
toppling down a rocky hill. She must have dragged the other person along
too, because the last thing she remembered, besides the pain of her head
hitting a rock, was a brief sight of red hair. 

                        *** End Flashback 1 ***

        "And when I woke up, I was somewhere I didn't recognize," Ami
finished. 
        Kenshin looked thoughtful for a moment, then spoke up. "The person
you ran into...was me."
        Kaoru turned to him, surprized. "Kenshin..."
        "I was on my way back home when I sensed I was being followed," he
began. "Then all of a sudden I was surrounded by light. When the light
vanished, I was in a place I didn't recognize, and it was raining. Then
someone ran into me, and I fell down a rocky hill. When I managed to stop
myself, I was surrounded by light, and I was brought back to where I left.
That's when we found you and brought you back to the doujou."
        "Your doujou?" Ami asked. "I knew that place wasn't familiar to me
at all...

                        *** Begin Flashback 2 ***       
                         (It's a long one, folks)

        Ami awoke from one darkness to another. She layed there still for
a moment, her body registering pain from all of her extremeties, and
especially her head. Slowly, ignoring the throbbing in her temples, she
sat up and looked around.
        The moon came out from behind a cloud, outlining enough of the
room for Ami to realize that she'd never been there before. There were
plain wooden floors, no furnature in sight, and the walls seemed to be
thin. <Strange...Where am I? How did I get here?>
        Ami spotted a door along one wall, and she moved toward it as
quietly as possible. When she reached it, she realized it was made of 
paper.  <Very strange...I've only seen houses like this on our trip to 
Japan. And definitely not in New Jersey.> Cautiously, she put her hand on 
the door, inched it open ever so slightly, and peeked out.
        Sitting slumped on the floor was a boy with long reddish hair,
dressed in a hakama and what looked like some sort of gi. He looked like
he was asleep, but a katana rested on his shoulder, and his hand hovered
over it, almost as if he were prepared for attack. Ami quickly closed the
door shut again. <So much for door number one.>
        Looking around the room again, she spotted another door at the
other end. She repeated the same procedure as with the first, opening it
slightly and peeking out first. There was noone guarding this door, and it
opened up to the outside. <Door number two it is.> She opened it enough to
slip out then closed it again. <Alright, I gotta get my bearings, find out 
how to get home. But first to get out of here.> She picked a random
direction and took off.
        She kept to the shadows as much as possible, trying not to be seen
by anyone who might be lurking about. She silently thanked her father for
making her and the other students train in the dark. And for making a game
of teaching them how to stay in the shadows and hide. (Author's note: My
sensei actually made us do this. It was quite fun. ^_^)
        She spotted the gate and was through it quickly. <Yoshi. Now to
find a road...> She looked around and spotted a clearing in the trees -
and was glad to find what looked to be a fairly wide, well-worn trail.
<Hmm...I wonder where this goes. No time to worry about that now. I guess
I'll find out.> She made her way up the trail, staying in the shadows like
before.
        She hadn't gotten very far when something caught her eye. She made
her way to it, and a smile crossed her face when she found out what it
was. <My bag! Maybe I dropped it when I fell or something...But I don't
see the hill. Oh well, at least I have it back.> She fished around in her
bag and drew out her cherished small sword. <No way I'm gonna lose this
again.> She put it at her hip, slung the bag over her shoulder, and
started down the trail again.
        A short while later, she came to a strange-looking town. <What in
the world? The buildings are all kind of like the one I just left! The
style is definitely Japanese, or at least Asian. And they don't look
modern at all. How wierd... I feel like I'm in a dream or something.> She
quickly made her way through the streets, trying to see if she could find
a house with a light on, or a building she could recognize as a police
station. Instead, she passed various empty buildings that had signs with
things like "restaurant" and "store" written on them - in Japanese. <A
dream that I'm in Japan?>
        A few minutes later, the buildings turned from rather well-kept to
dilapidated. Ami was about to turn around when she saw movement. It was a
bunch of large, rough-looking men. From the way a few of them were
staggering, they were drunk. They definitely didn't look like the helpful
type. Ami turned and headed back toward where she came from. But
unbenownst to her, an alley-cat mewled at her as she passed. It attracted
the attention of at least one of the thugs, who then spotted the girl and
alerted his buddies.
        Ami gave a quick glance back and saw them running towards her. She
immediately tried to run down another street and disappear-but it turned
out to be a dead end. She was trapped.
        
On to part 6B! (If you haven't fallen asleep yet... -_-;;)
 
Tatsuko