The Freezing Fire and the Warm Ice

~Tiger-Lily~

MInna-san! This is my very first hand written fanfic. Hand written, because I'm a doujinshi artist. I consider my two Rurouni Kenhsin doujinshis as a fanfic, though. I had known fanfics for so long but I haven't tried to publish any. Ideas just came popping out of my mind and I don't know if I can draw all these stories at once. And I don't know when I'll get to finish drawing it all. That's why I decided to do it the other way ^_^

This way I'll be able to contain my thoughts into something productive. And oh,..another thing,…

Since I'm an artist, I can't tell if I would be able to satisfy the readers. Gomen ne,…. Pls. don't throw meteors at me. I wrote this just for reader's enjoyment… not for my own gain. But I promise to do my best with this one.

Please don't hesitate to read and review.

DISCLAIMER: I really don't own RK. Who knows? Maybe someday. Im a Mangaka already, but if it's RK, why not?

PROLOUGE

The cool breeze of mid-autumn air brushed lightly against her wind reddened cheeks sending wisps of dark ebony tresses clinging over her dry lips. She had tolerated the scent of the last Sakura tree she had passed through wash her own jasmine fragrance. Her feet trudged the dark quiet streets of Tokyo as silent thoughts mingle in her mind. The land was dry all the way it's rough and enduring path, giving her no trouble to maintain her preferred pace.

She inhaled the moist scent of fallen leaves while keeping her breathing intact with her quickening strides. Her hakama made it easier for her to tread and she felt just comfortable with her gi, which is now damp with her sweat after the last minutes of training. Her hair moved in sync with every wave of her body casting a streaming shadow in its wake.

For a girl who practices kendo, she didn't even think of herself as attractive, much less beautiful. Her hair, long clean and healthy as well as her fair complexion was all she had asked for. And to top it all was her eyes which twinkle in azure that was the highlight to her features.

Those two spheres of dark endless pools concealed the sadness and emptiness of her heart beneath its warm smile. A smile she had plastered on her face to hide her own emotions. Emotions left in her heart since her parents died.

Heading back to the dojo which was her home since she was born, she banished the lingering memory. Now she is alone, no one to even greet her home.

To her to pride, she's starting to feel overwhelmed by this monotonous life. A kind of peace she acquired from being alone. She has to admit, the mere fact that she had been living by herself for quite a time now made her feel a little proud of herself. But she missed her family, especially her father.

It's been sometime since Kaoru's father passed away from the war. To others, It might have looked like she had already moved on, but the painful scar left on her heart would always bleed, making her feel more sorry for herself.

Suddenly, memories of her father came flooding back to her;… his steady stance while he performed his kata,… his sobbing form by her mother's side when her mother died.. and the day he left her to participate in the Seinan war – and never came back.

'It might be the season' she thought. Autumn is the breeze of her hovering memories – the scent of her father.

Her thoughts settled back to reality as she opened the gates of the Kamiya dojo. She could just thank Kami- sama for letting her carry on until now. It is quite a feat for a seventeen year-old girl like her to be shouldering too much responsibility. Giving lessons to fend for herself and paying the taxes for the land of the dojo. To make the things worse, the number of her students decreased since the rumors about the Battousai spread to Tokyo. So she had to go to other dojos to teach, still adhering to her father's ideals about Katsujin-ken or "the sword that protects".

She slid the shoji to her bedroom and got her yukata out of the cupboards and head out to prepare her bath. As she walked to the tub, she shook her aching shoulders to ease her contracted muscles. Dropping her gi and hakama to the floor, she slid one foot in the tub to test the temperature of the water. When it was warm enough, she dipped herself in the water. Ripples blurred the features of her slender body as she sank into the steaming liquid.

"Ah,…" she let out a shattered sigh as the heat reduced her aches and bones to jelly as she let the hot water knead her tired muscles.

For minutes she sat quietly, letting the water raise just above her chin. Suddenly, without even realizing it, sleep gradually swallowed her as her eyelids hid her blue-orbs.

Kyoto

"….whose eyes twinkle in the gleam of dancing swords?

Those may be for the one who presume killing as easy as breathing.."

..just waiting another splatter of blood-

Stain the flash of his own blade"…

He jerked back, exhausted from the same vision that kept haunting him for what seemed like forever. He had already accepted this fate….Living the way of an assassin; resting in the morning and slays in the night. Dropping his head back, his hand found the forgotten cup of sake he just poured minutes ago.

"Must've dozed off again.." he uttered tilting his head toward the light.

This routine had already made him ignore his body's necessities. A price to pay for the duty of a man whose life is sold to death.

Kenshin let out a sigh weighted in dismay. The agonizing silence was harder to endure than hearing the familiar noise routine in the inn he was staying in. During these moments, the stillness casts him into a depth of darkness where he found himself hearing the terrifying voices… voices that kept accusing him until they irked him out of his sanity.

He sipped the liquid and felt it run down his throat making him feel a hint of warmth.

"His soul must be rotting in hell by now.." he had overheard once as he walked the busy streets of Kyoto one morning. With his long red hair tied in a ponytail and long bangs enough to hide his golden eyes, nobody would even take him for a manslayer. For it was also said that those who sets eyes upon him haven't lived to tell the tale.

Yet as the days wore away, Kenshin could only find himself wondering what really felt like hell.

"A place where fire annihilates everything,.." he muttered to himself. "A place fit for monsters,…. Like me."

He can already feel the flames licking his very being right now. But somehow, something is different though, for what supposed to be hot was somehow freezing for him. If there is truly fire, he had wished it to be hot as he knew it – because the blaze consuming his body froze him like ice. A coldness that stings the depths of his soul that he felt he'd fell to pieces in a single blow.

Finding a way to survive the cold, he reminisced the last time he felt warm. The last time he felt love. But he had already destroyed his only source of those with his own hands, without even meaning to. Feeling a sense of restraint, he ran down his hands over his face and tracing the scar on his left cheek. He looked at his sword, which is now in its scabbard. "The perfect place for a sword", some would say. Then he slid it lower, allowing it to rest in his shoulder. The world weighed down on him as he felt the heaviness of his sword.

No one would have the slightest idea of his suffering, or hear the cry of the silent warrior inside. For he knew each life he took adds to his life of reproach. He had been struggling over his own emotions. Much the same as She did…

Two different worlds. Both having the same intensity of their conflicts. A cold fire devouring His soul, and the ice hiding beneath Her soothing warmth.

Fate had been holding back somehow, preparing its wheels to turn over their lives. Now, they would just have to wait.

END OF PROLOUGE

Please R&R so I would know whether to continue or not. T_T

I'm extending my gratitude to Kanzen ne Tsuki. I really liked her stories. And to all the readers. Thank you for taking time to read this prologue. Heehee. You are all my inspiration. Reading other fanfics made me itch to write mine and draw for those beautiful stories. Just send me a message if you want me to draw something for your stories. Especially Tsuki-san. I can already picture out your story "DO YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER?".