Disclaimer: If I owned Kenshin you'd be paying for this.

AN: this is also available on DeviantArt

Smoke and blood chocked the air of the imperial jewel.
The millenium captial, kyoto was ablaze and drenched in the blood of both sides... and as much as it tore him apart to admit the blood of the innocent flowed and mixed with that of the combatants. That and his opponents... had less to do with that than his own comrades.

Kenshin shook. He trembled. Sin was all over him. Blood was on his hands.
He had set out to ease suffering, but found himself neck deep... near drowning in it.

Had he chosen right? Why did he doubt, and fear his own mind. THEY never did.
Kenshin felt sick.

Voices howling forced him to push down the bile rising in his throat.
"There they are!" came the voices.
Kenshin rode the shadows, and in an instant saw two of his comrades, one wounded, being beared down on by a small pack of wolves.
Despair encroached in their eyes, as the confident, skilled hunters closed in on their weakened prey.

Kenshin threw them a line. In a voice too menacing for a fourteen year old boy he spoke. One line no more. "Leave them all to me."
Hope flared in the eyes of the men, recognition in those of the wolves. Both called his title.
Battosai.

His men dissapeared down the road of salvation he had laid bare for them, and the wolves readied themselves to try out the dangerous game before them.
It did not take a moment for Kenshin to traverse the length of the street, leaving the wovles... those Shinsengumi... those men drifting in rivers of their own blood.

The bile rose again, choking him slightly. he could taste the bitterness of it.

Then the haunting call of another wolf spilt the silence of the street.
"It's been awhile, Mr. Himura, we meet again," Kenshin's gaze whipped up to the deceptively young looking man ahead of him, Souji Okita "and it seems your Hieten Mitsurugi style becomes more and more impressive each time I see it." the wolf trilled in a soft voice.

Both men began to ready themselves before an calm, deep, nearly friendly voice broke through the darkness "Okita, I reccomend that you stand down." out the shadows he stepped, narrow, lean, and sharp were Kenshin's first impression.
Okita glanced back "There's no need for you to be concerned. I am supposed to be leader of the first squad of the Shinsengumi after all." he argued mildy
The second wolf moved forward slightly eyes closed in a humble smile that raised the hairs on the back of Kenshin's neck. "But you're also feeling ill today, you can't pull the wool over my eyes, Okita." the tall slender man answered back amicably.
Okita looked stunned, and appeared to resign.
The mysterious wolf began drawing closer to Kenshin as he stood in wait.
Wolves... just a nickname... just a title for men, but not now. Kenshin's blood chilled as this one stalked closer... a wolf. A wolf among wolves. "That man over there, the infamous Battosai the manslayer," he remark the friendly voice begining to growl low "will be slain by me, the leader of the third Shinsengumi squad"

Kenshin's heart sped up. Hajime Saito. The wolf of Mibu.

"I shall claim your life!" he howled running forward sword drawn, but a Kenshin could see as he ran to meet the challenge was a wolf charging at him fangs bared.
Blades clashed and twirled as he matched the wolf's pace, and amber eyes gleamed.
Amber eyes devoid of madness, fear, or even doubt. It shook Kenshin to the core... no doubt.

The both fell back. The wolf sank low to the ground, and settled into an unfamiliar stance.
Confidence radiated from his amber eyes "Your death is assured Battosai." He spat.
As they charged Kenshin would have traded anything for the certanity in the other man's eyes.