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Under the Rain
By: Xellia Metallium

Chapter 1


Standard Disclaimers Apply.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: The first in my songfic trilogy. This story takes place after the Shishio arc in which Soujiro wandered around Japan searching for the meaning of his life. The lyrics come from a Slayers song by Touma Yumi (Sylphiel) called “Alone”...

~~~~~

Don't look closely at me with such kindness, my heart starts to stir. You are still that remote day, I regret myself who loved you so much. If we had more courage, we would have been a different relation.

Walking at night along the dark alley of Kyoto, Soujiro's mind wandered to the past. Ever since he was a child, all he had known was suffering, torture, and abuse. He fought for what he believed was right, but realized that he was mistaken. The weaks didn't need to die; they just need to be protected.

Even though the streets were crowded, Soujiro felt emptiness. So many years of horrible memories, so many years of pain. When will it ever end?

He remembered the first time Himura had met Shishio. Senkaku was there too, fighting Himura. Everyone was serious and too deeply concentrated, but when Hajime opened the door behind him, two kids fell down to the floor. Kids? Well, not exactly. One little boy and a ninja girl. She was just a normal girl, yet she had caught his attentions. Dressed in the typical OniwaBanshuu uniform, she was cheerful, loud, and brave. No one would have dared to enter Shishio's domain, not to mention spying on them like that. Her personality was quite hilarious. Soujiro remembered looking at her with a smiled. Who was this girl?

I wanted to see you, so I found my way, but a person who is next to you is... You give off smiles innocently without harm you don't know my painful heart.

After fighting Himura for the last time, his clouded eyes were finally clear. He had a whole future ahead of him, a whole world for him to find answers to. After that fight, Soujiro wandered around trying to find his own self. But all he encountered was solitude, days of loneliness started creating a black hole pierching his heart. Soujiro wondered if that was what Himura experienced before he'd met Kamiya.

...I wonder how Himura goes through all this...

As Soujiro started thinking about Kenshin, her face came to mind. Yes, her face. Her smiling, cheerful, and happy expression that never seemed to fade from her beautiful face. He met her once and remembered her still. She must have had a happy and caring family...A family that he never had.

Tonight I'm lonelier than when I couldn't have seen you for a long time, I look up at the moon alone.

For several days now, all he could think of was she. All those times he was in Kyoto, he met her several times. Once was in Shishio's domain. The second time was at the market. He saw her again, still the same, except that she was a bit older. But she still had that undying cheerful personality. He wanted so much to talk to her, to get to know her better. He didn't know why he was so attracted to her, but it was a feeling he couldn't quite understand.

Unaware of where he was going, Soujiro felt raindrops falling on him. People around him were hurrying home, to get away from the rain. But Soujiro didn't have a home to run to. He had nowhere to go. By then, the rain had fallen heavily. Soujiro continued walking through the rainy night, soaking wet with his face down. Even through all the sound from the rain, he could hear footsteps coming closer. As he looked up, he saw her again. That face that haunted his dreams. Standing there in the rain, Soujiro could do nothing but stare at her. Holding her umbrella above her, she stood there staring wide-eyed at him. She was looking straight at him with those curious aqua eyes of hers. Neither one of them said anything for a long time, but suddenly, she smiled at him. Smiled at him. A smile that could brightened his world...

I deeply utter an incantation, and if I could go back to that day, I don't need anything. We would rather be reflected as well as hate, you don't know yet.

Maybe all those times he'd met her weren't coincidences after all...maybe it meant something more...something deeper...

Something he might be seeking for after all...

I couldn't have said, "I love you" since I met you, I have grieved over my heart. You aren't conscious of it forever, and you have other dreams.

It was fate.

A red thread of fate connecting the two.

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