Dreams and Reality, a Gundam Wing/AC + Rurouni Kenshin Crossover fanfic

Title: Dreams and Reality
Chapter: 1/1
Author: Dragona 2007
Email: Please check my profile or leave an email address for me to respond to in your review.
Summary: (Oneshot) Heero dreams of a past life, where he had lived the life of a hitokiri in the Bakumatsu.
Fandom: Gundam Wing, Rurouni Kenshin
Spoilers: Gundam Wing Episodes 1-12, Episode Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal, possibly the entire Rurouni Kenshin animated series
Rating: K
Pairing(s): None
Disclaimer: I don't own the copyrights to either Gundam Wing or Rurouni Kenshin.
Author's notes: This idea actually came to me when I had finished with a stint of re-watching all of my Gundam episodes, and I had decided to revisit the Sam X movies. I noticed several similarities especially in the early life of Kenshin, as compared to Heero.

While I realize that that the themes of abandonment, adoption, warfare, etc are common, not only just in anime, but just about any media that you experience these days, I couldn't also help be reminded of Heero not killing Relena time and time again, as I watched Kenshin remove his katana from Tomoe's throat. I also believe that Heero experiencing a past life doesn't seem to be that far out there, if Quatre is truly wields empathy.

Heero Yuy regained consciousness, feeling an intense amount of pain, but he forced his body to not give any appearance of it, unsure of where he was at the moment. The boy that called himself Heero Yuy had always been unique. Ever since he could remember, he'd had silent dreams of a red-haired samurai, Himura Kenshin, that had become an assassin, a hitokiri, for the Choshuu clan, in the feudal wars of pre-colony Japan. He had then sworn a vow to never kill, and had become a rurouni, a wandering samurai.

It amazed him about the similarities that his dream world held. Both worlds had left him orphaned at a young age, barely able to remember a handful about the parents that had given him life. In both, he had been taken in at a young age and trained in combat, with Hiko, his shishio, the man who had taught him the deadly Hiten Mitsurugi fighting style and Odin Lowe teaching him how to fight, how to hold his own in a world that would even destroy the pure innocence of a child. Odin Lowe had died, and Hiko had been willing to die, to teach the final technique.

The two lives had been willingly brought into two very different revolutions, to become an assassin, a terrorist, in the modern definition. Katsura had swayed his past life with charisma and respect, playing to his need to save people in a similar manner that Hiko had done, whereas Dr. J hadn't needed to do as much, as Heero had already possessed the mindset of an assassin. He had just needed a cause that he could believe in. Lastly, at the moment anyway, he had found that he was unable to take the life of an innocent woman in the midst of each respective struggle. Yukishiro Tomoe and Relena Dorlian, both women that had learned to much, and yet, he had allowed them to live with their knowledge.

It made him wonder, as his life continued, if there would be other similarities. This life was short, in comparison to his past life, so depending on if he survived the war, there was a chance for them to occur. Would he get the chance to apply the lessons learned in a past life to this one, when he had cheated death so many times already?

"I'm going to be straight with you. Are you willing to kill people? There's nothing pretty about this. I will need you to kill people for me. In order to create a new world, we must first destroy the old one. It's not pleasant, but it needs to be done. You told me that you wanted to use your skills to protect people. I am asking if I can borrow those skills. For the new world, can you kill?" (A/N: See end note 1)

"Hey… I like the look in your eyes. Want to pilot a Gundam?" (A/N: See end note 2)

The blended voices of Katsura and Dr. J faded to hear the click of needles and the latest news broadcasts of OZ and their military actions. He opened an eye to observe his location, and for the briefest of moments saw the blond that he had been unable to permanently silence. "Relena." Her name left his lips, in a half grunt of pain.

"Hey, you've woken up. Wait a minute, and I'll go get Trowa." Her features morphed into her true features, the moment she spoke, revealing the former to be a reaction to the dreams and comparison of the two lives. As his mind entered survival mode, he pushed it away for now. After all, dreams were dreams, and reality was reality. Reality was hard enough in times of war, without the interference of dreams.

1) This was taken entirely from Act One of a fan-subbed version of the Samurai anime, Trust and Betrayal, so please forgive me, if I have mistaken the quote.

2) This was taken entirely from pages 77 and 78 of a fan-translated version of the Gundam Wing manga, Episode Zero, so please forgive me, if I have mistaken the quote. Please note that I actually did change the "Want to" part, as I just cannot picture a man of science, like Dr. J, saying "Wanna," as my translation would have me believe.

That said, for right now, I'm considering this completed. I may end up exploring different aspects of RK more, as I find situations where they could become applicable to the canon of GW. Thanks for reading!! Please R & R!!

Dragona 2007