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Standard Disclaimer: Rurouni Kenshin characters are the property of creator Nobohiro Watsuki, Shueisha, Shounen Jump, and Sony Entertainment.

Light of the Snow-Red Village
Part I - Love's Advent: The Bakumatsu and Beyond - Chapter 2

The alarming cries of the Shinsengumi 3rd division startled the fleeing Ishin Shishi into moving on yet again. The relentless, hunting samurai ran down the alleyway, swords up, ready to slaughter the traitors.

A dark figure stepped out of the shadows. The Shinsengumi halted in their charge.

A voice, silken and colder than frozen ice, called out from the darkness, quiet, yet threatening.

"Retreat." the figure moved into the light, revealing the features to match the call. "If you retreat now, you will live. If you don't..."

A larger member's jaw dropped. "R-red hair and... scar on his left cheek! It can't be..."

One hand drifted to the katana. "It is your choice." Battousai's eyes flitted to the man walking out in front of the other Shinsengumi, an arrogant, knowing smirk on his face. He tensed as the man drew his sword.

"I suspected from the looks that he was no ordinary swordsman." the man drawled slowly, eyes fierce and cool in the face of the coming battle.

"Captain Saitou!" the other Shinsengumi moved aside, watching as their commander passed them to face the hitokiri, moving into position.

"Draw, Battousai." Saitou's amber eyes, so like Kenshin's own, were dark, uncompromising. Ready to fight, to the death if necessary.

'This is it.' Kenshin realized suddenly, crouching into the stance of the Battoujutsu. 'This is the battle that will never be forgotten...'

They charged, swords clashing. The remaining Shinsengumi stood and watched in near awe as the battle ensued, each showing their skill without restraint.

'This is an even match,' they realized quickly. 'Neither can win this fight.'

The swordsmen stood, katana up and ready, bloody and exhausted. Time no longer had any meaning to them.
The others, however, noticed the growing light. "How long have they been fighting?" one muttered to his comrade, who shrugged and stepped forward.

Saitou gazed hard into the weary eyes of his opponent. Then, he smirked. "Another time then, Battousai."

Himura stepped back into the shadows as they hurried off, wiping his mouth. 'Another time...' He stumbled out of the alleyway, keeping his weight on the sheathed katana, while letting one hand linger near the wakizashi. 'Can't let my guard down, just because they've left... in front of me... there!'

"Himura!" an familiar voice caught his attention, warning him that the stranger wasn't an enemy. One of the other soldiers from the meeting. "Here, you're wounded! I'll help!"

The words were blurred. He leaned on the offered arm slightly. 'This is... similar to the fight with the Yaminobu, two years ago... I can't seem to focus anymore. But... that man... Saitou... we will meet again someday...'

"Aa." Kenshin held still as one of the Shishi doctors wrapped his arm in a bandage. "My wounds aren't serious. I'll recover."

The door slid open, and Tomoe stepped through. Her eyes widened for a moment at the blood on his clothes, but she shook it off quickly and moved towards him. "Here, I brought you dinner. You'll need to regain your strength."

The doctor finished his mending and pulled the other soldier towards the door. "We'll leave you now."

"Thank you." Kenshin rubbed his arm for a moment, then pulled the sleeve of his gi back over it. "Tomoe?"

"That day... in the snow..." he finished for her, his voice soft and very quiet.

"I had a feeling... coming home... I don't know why, but I thought of that day..."

His eyes widened, and he looked at her sharply. "I didn't think of it. Not until now."

"Nor did I." she hesitated, then reached out and took his hand. "Anata... you..." 'You must not fight... no more... you're not invincible... someday, surely... you'll be killed...'

He brushed a strand of hair away from her face and wrapped his uninjured arm around her. "I'll continue to fight. But... when it's over..."

The pure seriousness of her husband's voice made her heart sink, and she turned to him with wide, fearful eyes. He was always serious, it was true, but the way he spoke her name... "K-Kenshin... what..."

His eyes were intense, afraid, but clearly not for himself. His confidence was unshaken, but the soulful concern made her worry. Something had happened.

"Tomoe," he repeated, voice steady, "Yoshinobu attacked Kyoto with a hidden army."

"I have to go." he nodded. "They need me there. The Shinsengumi are nearly three hundred strong, and altogether the attacking army has fifteen thousand men. Satsuma-Choshuu is doing well... but we have only a third of their numbers. I must help them..."

He responded by taking her into his arms, holding tightly. "I'll be careful." he promised. "I'll come back."

She nodded into his chest, not fighting back the tears. 'I couldn't cry for Akira-san... perhaps, if I cry for him, he'll return safely...'

"And..." he whispered hesitantly, breathing in the white plum scent, "When I come back... it'll be over for us. We can leave this place... we can live on."

She pulled away slightly to look on his face, dawning with disbelief and... hope. He nodded.

Kenshin stood among the chaos, watching the retreating figures with a sense of great relief... and weariness.

"Himura, over here! The fourth unit of the Shinsengumi is still fighting towards Fushimi!"

He turned to his fellow soldier tiredly, sword hand sagging. Nearly twenty days of fighting... four years before that... enough... he had had enough...

'I only wish for an end to this... I want to live on, without this war... with Tomoe...'

The other soldier's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and he shook it off, eyes narrowed. "Nothing, I'm all right. Let's... let's finish this."

Tomoe shook her head, eyes closed. "I couldn't. He would worry, and that would only make it worse. Better for him to think of nothing but surviving. When he comes home, I will tell him."

The younger woman stiffened, her dark eyes growing chilled. "He will come back. He always comes back."
Okami turned away and said nothing more.

'He will come back.' Tomoe repeated to herself, touching her stomach tentatively. 'He will come, and then... then I will tell him...'

"We're going to celebrate, Himura! If you're out there, hurry up and get back to the inn! Katsura-san's sure to be there!"

Kenshin stood silently under the hill, only half listening to his impatient comrades call for him. Of course they wouldn't wait for him, nor would they search for his body in case he was dead. They were not friends.

'And the one they seek is dead. Hitokiri Battousai is dead. I will go home... home, to Tomoe... as Himura Kenshin.'

Closing his eyes, he sheathed his sword, plunging the old iron saya into the soil. He took a few steps away from it, as if to leave it behind him. The wind blew the thin strands of leather dangling from the hilt, just as it ruffled his long, flaming hair while he watched the sun gradually set.

'And... now that it is over... I can keep my promise to her... I want to find a way to protect without killing...'

'Strange... I'm still in the middle of the battlefield, and I can't... I can't smell the blood anymore...'

He turned and began to walk away, leaving the katana - his trusted and, for the longest time, only companion - the battle, the death... leaving, he hoped, part of his soul behind.

May it be recorded, if ever to appear in history, that Hitokiri Battousai perished in the midst of the Battle of Toba-Fushimi.

As cheers and joyful cries streamed through the bustling streets of Kyoto, Tomoe stood by the window of her room, watching anxiously for any sign of the safe return of her husband. She saw many soldiers who looked familiar, but the flash of red hair, an obvious sign of his presence, did not meet her eyes. She prayed and prayed to whatever gods she thought to exist, but her fear did not diminish.

'He cannot die today. He can't. Not... not now... not ever... anata, please, it is over... please, return to me...'

Okami's voice at the door startled her, and she rushed over and slid it open. "Nani?"

The old woman's face was distressed, saddened. "Tomoe-san, didn't I warn you? You... you should have told him!"

Tomoe's face paled, and one shaky hand reached up to cover her mouth. "Iie... it can't be..." 'He can't be... can't be dead. He said... he promised he would return...'

Okami noticed her sorrow. "The soldiers have returned, as you must know. Many of them say that they called and searched for him, but he was nowhere to be found. His... someone saw his sword... but he..."

Tomoe stiffened, and bowed slightly. "Thank you for informing me." she then slid the door shut without another word.

She went back to the window, sobs stifled by her tightly shut jaw. 'He's not dead. He can't be. No body. No body... still alive... he must be...'

There was no telling how long she sat there, staring out blankly, tears rolling silently down her cheeks. She didn't notice the sounds around her, neither did she register the words of those celebrating elsewhere in the inn.

Her eyes widened, and she turned her head just as warm, weary arms wrapped themselves around her neck, holding her close. She choked on her tears and grasped at his gi, sobbing into it. "Anata-!"

Kenshin stroked her hair gently, making soft, soothing sounds to calm her. "Daijoubu... beloved... it's all right, I'm here, I came back to you..."

Tomoe gazed into his eyes, stifling a gasp at what she saw. Warmth. Lost, young and inexperienced... but true warmth... Kenshin's warmth...

'I once saw a warm, living violet in those pale eyes... I pray that... they will return...'

She let her eyes drift from his eyes to the rest of his body. He was exhausted from the long battles, she could tell by the way his shoulders slouched more than usual, but he had exchanged his usual, dark blue and grey attire for a newer uniform. The light, softened shade of his red hair was echoed closely by the colour of his new gi, tucked in above a clean white hakama. The change was sudden, but refreshing. 'It's like he's become a completely different man... and if that is true...' a small smile rose on her face. 'If that is true, then it is really over, and we can leave this place... leave our past behind, and live only for our own future...'

"Anata..." she whispered, "The others came back, they said you had gone missing... I didn't know what to think, I..."

He covered her lips with a small, reserved smile. 'So rare...' "Koishii... I promised you... I promised I would return."

He took her hand and began to lead her down towards the lower levels of the house. "I asked for Katsura-san's permission to leave the Shishi after this battle ended. We have won, and now... we are free."

"Hai." he chose one of the hidden passageways, glancing around to check for a sign of anyone else. "I swore it on the battlefield... the Hitokiri Battousai is dead. Forever. From now on, Himura Kenshin will live only to protect without killing, and to be... a good husband to you, someone truly worthy of your love."

He spoke nothing of the man she had once lost, and she was grateful of it. She still had no idea as to how she could tell him the truth about that man... that he had been murdered on these streets by the Battousai... but the Battousai was gone now. 'Now, beloved,' she smiled inwardly, 'My revenge is complete. The killing monster is truly dead, and only the man I love remains. Now, perhaps you can rest... and I can learn to really live again...'

"Only Katsura-san knows where we will be... he has given us the home in Otsu, to use or sell as we please." his voice was gradually growing gentler as he spoke, and it warmed her heart. "How would you like returning to the life of a farmer? I will return for our things later on."

She pulled a hand up to her chest, feeling for the reassuring hardness of her hidden diary, and squeezed the hand she held gently. "All I need, anata, is what I have with me here today."

She merely shook her head, a beautiful smile on her face. "Hai. Let us go... back home."

Slowly, he shared her smile. And nodded. 'There is no one to say goodbye to. We will go... and we will discover what it means to live, as a family. Not just for show.'

Kenshin turned at the sudden voice, anxious to slip into the forest as the darkness grew around them. He didn't want anyone to know he was leaving, especially with Tomoe. His eyes narrowed slightly as he met the face of the man who spoke to him. "Shakkuu-san."

Arai Shakkuu stood against the wall of the inn, a glaring, almost curious look in his eyes. "So, you're leaving the Shishi, Himura."

The young swordsman eyed the man who had made fine swords for the Shishi, including his own wakizashi. He had a sword leaning on his shoulder, one arm casually draped across it.

"We've just won the first battle at Toba Fushimi." Kenshin stated obviously. "From now on, it's just selfish fighting, which I want no part of. And on top of that, what am I supposed to do without a sword? I have Katsura-san's permission, Shakkuu-san. From now on, I intend to search out the way of protecting those who live in the new age, without killing." he clasped Tomoe's hand gently. 'I protect... protect you...'

Shakkuu smirked slightly. "Hmm... if there is such a way, I'd like to know it too." he took a step forward, shaking his head. "You can't just run away from all the lives you've taken after so long. If you live by the sword, you die by the sword. That should be the only way you can follow."

Kenshin's eyes narrowed again, then pulled up his arm, reflexes sharp as knives, when Shakkuu threw the sword to him. He caught it neatly, confused.

"A goodbye present." Shakkuu explained. "It can't hurt, even though it's probably too much for you. Try being a swordsman with that at your waist. You'll find out how deeply you believe what you just said."

Kenshin stared down at the sword in his hands, drawing it out a few inches from the iron scabbard. His eyes widened. 'The blade... it's on the wrong side...' his finger followed the smooth, blunt edge, astonished.

"When that sword breaks," the swordsmith's voice called out through his surprise, "If you still believe that weak joke of yours, come see me again in Kyoto."

Tomoe touched his arm gently, telling him in silence that it was time to leave. He nodded slightly, and they continued their escape.

In the middle of the Toba-Fushimi aftermath, Kenshin and Tomoe escaped Kyoto, to live alone...