A Kensai's Heart, Chapter 1

[morning dew star]

Okay...^^* This is my first original fiction to put here, though I have this on fictionpress.com. I decided to put it here. I just wanted to put it somewhere else. Please be nice; I'm not sure how good my original fiction is...^^*

I held the sword lightly out in front of me. The early morning sun gleamed off its sharp, double-edged blade. The smooth leather bound hilt was grasped firmly in my hand. I tried a practice swing. The sword cut through the air with a fluid grace. The perfect balance, the perfect edge. The smothness, the sharpness. It was a perfectly crafted and very elegant sword. It was my father?s.

When my father passed away, he left his sword to me. Not to my little brother, as most would have expected. Some in the village thought that it was because I was older. But I knew better. My father knew well of my love for swords. He knew how badly I wanted to fight in the war, to help fight the enemy. But as everyone knows: females shouldn?t fight. The battlefield is not our place. I can?t stand this injustice. Angrily I threw my father?s precious sword at a nearby tree. The sword point imbeded itself deeply into the bark. I sighed and went to heave it out.

I was an excellent fighter, nobody denied that. Many said I was as talented with a sword as my father. But they still thought I should stay home. No one thought it was unfair to keep me here. Could they not see that this life was a prison to me? I feel like a caged animal sometimes, struggling to be free. I pulled out my father?s sword from the tree, when I felt a sharp pain in my back.

?Ahhh!? I cried. ?Isaru!?

I heard my little brother laugh. He took the sharp tree branch and poked me with it again. He loved tempting me. But now, as I always was, I was worried for him about my temper. I love my little brother, but sometimes I fear I can?t control my temper. I fear one day, that the caged animal inside my will unleash itself on little Isaru. My brother, the only other male in our small family, was only about seven years old, while I was almost fifteen.

I pushed the animal inside me down, for now. I made a mock-mad face. ?Isaru,? I growled in the meanest voice I could muster. ?You know I don?t like you to poke me with that stick.?

He just looked up at me sheepishly, grinning. He knew I was kidding. But I felt like playing with him today...

?I?ve warned many times not too,? I said. ?Now you must be punished.? I raised the sword over my head, very much looking like I was going to attack Isaru. Isaru looked very scared now. He whimpered and tried to crawl away. ?Now,? I hissed, sounding more evil than I intended, ?I will have to do this. I am sorry, brother. But you were warned.?

?Noo!? he cried, tears brimming in his cobalt eyes, ?No, Typh, I didn?t mean it! You can?t defile Dad?s sword with innocent blood!?

That last statement shocked me. Isaru, little Isaru, said something like that? I never thought him to be philosophical in any way. I couldn?t believe he thought I would hurt him. That was what scared me the most. I?ve known him all my life, we grew up in happiness, yet he still thought I could harm him. Tears brimmed in my eyes. Isaru, my little brother, the only sibling I had, knew about the caged animal within me.

I looked sadly down t my little brother. I was cowering at the base of a tree. With a stab of guilt, I saw it as the tree that I had thrown the sword into. I placed the sword down on the ground and hugged Isaru. ?Brother, you know I would never hurt you. I was kidding. Please, I am sorry. My prank was cruel. Please, know that I was only joking around!?

But then something happened that I did not suspect. I heard Isaru giggle. ?As was I, Typh.?

Then I felt another sharp pain. Isaru dug him elbow into my ribs, giggled like a maniac, and broke free of my grip.

?Isaru!? I yelled, but my body flooded with relief. That little trickster! ?You get back here!? I shouted playfully. I easily overcame the young boy, and proceed to tickle him until he cried for mercy. He laughed with me, and we both shared a great feeling: The rush of being alive.
****************************

?So, the little moster tricked you then, huh??

?Yeah,? I answered wearily. Ume laughed. She was the only other person I had ever met who shared my thoughts with, my very closest friend.

She claims herself to be part demon, though not many believe her. But that is because they don?t know Ume as well as I do. She mostly looks just like an average person on the street. Only a few things are really that different. Her hair is an unnatural silvery-white that falls just past her shoulders. Her nails are unusualy long and sharp, and always painted a deep, bloodred. At least, I hoped it was paint. Her eyes were a slight pinkish color and, her pupils seemed to be vaugly slitted.

?And here I was, thinking that he knew about my inner self.?

Ume grinned. ?Your inner demon?? Ume was the only person I have told about this. Not Isaru, not my mother.

I sighed. ?But one things bugs me. Isaru is almost always immature and foolish. Yet, when I was teasing him with the sword, he said something that kinda scared me.?

Ume?s grinned widened. ?What? You, scared? Nah. Couldn?t be.?

I glared at her. ?It was something Father told me when I was young, before Isaru was even born. He, my father, said, ?You can?t defile swords with the blood of innocence. It will be the end of their purity.? Isaru said that, almost word for word!?

Ume?s grin fadded. ?Odd...?

?Very odd, indeed. Maybe it was a coincidence??

?Yeah, probabaly,? Ume answered. She pulled out her weapon from a small pouch at her waist. It was just a small, round disk. It almost looked like a fresbee But around the edges, it had tiny, almost invisible teeth encompassed the edges. I have seen those teeth cut through steel. She tossed the weapon up and down as though it were no more than a harmless toy. ?I?m bored,? she sighed.

I grined at her. ?Yes, we?re just poor females who aren?t supposed to fight battles. We must stay home, yadda, yadda, yadda. Well, I guess that means we can?t do any exciting...?

Ume grined back at me. ?You really want to??

I nodded. Of course, we WEREN?T talking abouty staying home. Since girls aren?t allowed in combat, we do the next best thing. We risk ourselves in the woods, knocking off any demon too close to the village. ?You up to it??

Ume laughed her usual insane laugh. The laugh she got whenever battle was afoot. ?You?re on!?

We raced each other away from the familarity and comfort of the parks in town, and ran along to the Demon Forest that surronds the village three-fourths of the way around. We slowed as we reached the fringes of the forest. We wanted to fight a demon that met us. It was foolish to start up demon attcks yourself. If you attack one, unprovoked, then you?re likely to have the forest?s wrath raining down upon you.

Ume took a deep breath of the thick, humid air. ?Ahhh, I love this place.?

I took a sidelong glance at her. The forest was old, musty, and humid. Bugs swarmed you where ever you tread, spiderwebs were woven along from tree to tree, and any number of powerful demons could come and attck you at any moment, giving the forest an air of tension and worry. ?Yeah, you would.?

We walked on for several long minutes, and saw nothing. Until?

?There!? whispered Ume. The leaves on a nearby tree were rustling frantically; sure signs a an aggrivated demon. If it saw us, it would likely come down and attack. Almost all demons hate humans. No one has figured out why, nor, rightfully so, do they want to. No matter how strong or weak the demon is, it will attack any human it sees until the human is dead or it is slain.

Suddenly it came out. A small, bluish creature it was, horns sticking out of its head and a monkey-like tail. It stood on two legs, with three fingered hands and toes. Its toes were nothing but little stubs, barely abely to stay steady on them. But the finger were long and claw-like needles, adapted for griping tree branches. It looked weak.

?Come on,? urged Ume, ?It looks so weak. We can take it.?

I nodded. I knew just how to get the demon mad without risking our necks. I looked up at the creature and waved. ?Hello, there! How are you?? Demons? don?t like to talk to humans, and don?t like it when we try to talk to them. It looked sharply at us and hissed. It lept down and was apparently unsteady on the ground. It hissed at us again and rushed at us. I whiped out my sword, while Ume took out her toothed-disk.

?You ready?? she asked.

?More than ever,? I responed. I had done this millions of times. But just as the demon saw our weapons, it stopped. I grined fiendishly at us, then gave an ear peircing shriek. Then, the trees were alive with movement! Dozens of small, little blue heads popped out of the leaves, all shreiking on the same note. I clamped my hands over my ears. I looked over at Ume. Sher was on the ground, hands on her ears, blood seeping through her fingers. Being part demon, she has a more acute sense of hearing. For her, it was ten times worse.

?Come on! We have to leave!? I shouted over the noise. I didn?t think she could hear properly. I grabed her arm and pulled her roughly to her feet. I started to run, pulling Ume along with me. Soon, she caught on and started to run on her own. The little demons followed after, using their long claws the scratch and slash at us. Some hit. As we raced out of the dreaded forest, we were bruised, cut, and very sore. But as we left the forest, we also left the demons behind.

?Well,? Ume said as we got back to the town, ?that was fun, wasn?t it??

[The_Braided_Baka's_Onna]

Very good original story, MDS! I should've known you'd do something at least Kenshin themed, with the sword and all! *laughs* Good luck!

[morning dew star]

MDS: *weeps* Its not Kenshin themed!! Inspired, yes! SGS thought that, too! Everyone thinks it related to Kenshin!!!! But I think this was on the floppy I left at your house...^^*

[The_Braided_Baka's_Onna]

yes it was. I still have those! ^^U

[morning dew star]

MDS: Curse my short memory...^^*

[The_Braided_Baka's_Onna]

Do you want those back?

[morning dew star]

Nah, I've no use for them. Al lthose stories are saved on my hard drive ^^

[The_Braided_Baka's_Onna]

Oh. Okay! Love the quotes! ^^

[morning dew star]

MDS: ^^* Its a sign of my obsessivenes...^^* I got bored once and so spent a lnog while quoting my DVD in Japanese. ^^* is that sad?

Here are the translations:

Kenshin: Next strike, your head wil lfly...

Kenshin: The smell of blood?!

SAito: You think you've dodged my attack, Battousai?
Kenshin: The overhead Gatotsu!

Kenshin: Stand up! This would be a pathetic ending to our first duel in ten years!
Saito: An ending? I wasn't coutnnig on that. But I've changed my mind. I'll kill you now.
Kenshin: I'll kill you now? That's my line.

[The_Braided_Baka's_Onna]

Not really! And I meant the quotes on your disk, but those are cool too!