A Swordsman's Path to Redemption

Prologue - Second Chances and Setting Things Right

*Japan*

It had been a while since Kenshin had been in Japan. Kenshin had been traveling for five years now helping and rescuing anyone in need as a result of him deciding to resume his role as a wanderer once again. His life was perfect back at the dojo, he had a loving wife Kamiya Kaoru and his son Kenji Himura, but that was the problem, his life was perfect, he believed that he did not deserve such happiness due to the many lives he has taken as the Hitokiri Battōsai. Sure he wasn’t Battōsai the Manslayer anymore but, still he had to live with the guilt of all the lives he took during the revolution. But at the moment that didn’t matter, the only thing that mattered was getting back to the dojo so he could her one last time.

At this very moment most of Kenshin’s body was covered in open sores and the skin on his arms and legs started to become discolored to the disease that was currently afflicting him, he had an idea how he contracted it. During his travels through China a fire broke out in a small village that he was traveling through while most managed to make it to safety there was still a young child that was trapped in one of the burning buildings, without thinking kenshin immediately kicked in the door and found the child in the very first room he walked into. He rescued the child without a problem and brought the child to a local doctor, he found it strange that no one bothered to help the child, especially when the child’s house was not even on fire. He later found that the child was afflicted with a rare form of the plaque which would spread throughout the body at an extremely slow rate but at the same time was 99% lethal and extremely excruciating. Unfortunately he contracted the disease a few weeks later.

At first it started out as nothing more than a mere cough and slight fatigue….at first. As the weeks passed Kenshin’s body was wracked with the most excruciating pain he had ever experienced in his entire life, eventually it got so bad that he would often pass out from the pain while he was screaming in agony at night. The fact that he even made it back to Japan was a miracle in itself; he would never have made it if it were not for Sanosuke’s help by getting him to Shanghai and getting him passage on a cargo ship. Kenshin knew long ago that he was dying and that there was nothing he could do to stop it, no cure, no medicine, all he could do was make the time he had left count.

As he got off the boat he knew he only had mere minutes if not seconds to live, he was going use the very last moments of his life by being with the woman he loved the most, Kamiya Kaoru. As he made his way back to the dojo he had to use whatever he could to support himself as he could barely walk let alone move. As the disease progressed he could barely tell what was going on around him, the disease would eventually take away one’s sight, hearing, and eventually their mind. As came upon the dojo struggling with every step, he saw her….. He saw Kaoru off in the distance in no better shape than he was. As he struggled with the last few bits of strength and life he had in him, he walked up to his wife and collapsed into her arms.

“I told you…*huff*…I would…*huff*…Come back.”

Was all he could say before slipped into unconsciousness. As his wife stroked his crimson red hair she noticed something. Kenshin’s scar was gone. It was then that she realized.

Kenshin was dead.

______________________________________________________________________________

*Equestria – near the Everfree forest*

It was midday and three little fillies were at their usual antics of trying to get their cutie marks in anything they could think of.

“Ahm not so sure we should be venturin in the Everfree forest.” Said the young filly with a heavy southern accent and cherry red mane with a pink bow in her hair as she walked with her hands in the pockets of her jeans.

“Ah come on, nothing’s going to happen Applebloom, besides what’s the worst that could happen anyway? We’re not going to go into too deep, just a little ways is all.” Said the orange filly with the purple mane dressed in a black track suit while riding her scooter. “Besides, we’re already gonna be in a lot of trouble when the girls find out that we the played hooky from school today so we could go crusading.” She added.

“Scootaloo’s got a point.” Said the snow white filly with the light purple mane dressed in light blue dress with white frills on it. “Rarity’s going to be upset, and overreact as usual when she finds out I cut school today, she’ll probably say “My sisters cutting class, she’s turning into a delinquent!” you know, the usual drama queen act.”

“That ain’t no act Sweetiebell, she is a drama queen.” Applebloom stated

They all laughed at the idea of Rarity’s reaction to them skipping school. They continued to walk for ten minutes in silence before Applebloom decided to brake the silence.

“So wat are we goin ta find our cutie marks in today girls?”

“How about we try finding our cutie marks in treasure hunting?” Scootaloo asked

“Nah, we did that last week. How bout findin it in exploring the Everfree forest?” Applebloom answered.

“That’s impossible, there’s no way to explore the entire everfree forest it’s to darn big, it would be easier to try and tame a manticore!” the white filly replied.

At that exact moment the three young fillies all came to the same idea after hearing the white filly’s reply and screamed.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MANTICORE TAMERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Then they all took off into the forest.

______________________________________________________________________________

*The Void*

All Kenshin could see was darkness. Complete and total darkness was all that surrounded Kenshin.

“Is this the afterlife? Or am I in hell?” Kenshin thought as he floated in this darkness.

“Neither my red headed, facially scarred, trouble making friend.” said a mysterious voice which caused Kenshin to panic at the surprise.

“Who are you, where am I, am I dead, and I am not a trouble maker!” Kenshin yelled in a panick at his current situation.

“In order, I am Discord Master of Chaos, somewhere between dimensions, sort of, and yes you are.” Said the strange voice as he revealed himself to Kenshin.

Kenshin was silent for a moment as he gazed at what appeared to be a man with a face which reminded him of a horse mixed with a dragon with mismatching horns, crazy white hair, and limbs which looked like they were from different animals, all while wearing a weird looking suit that had many mismatching patches of cloth and colors sewn together into a tacky suit. As Kenshin stared at the strange man in front of him he replied.

“I do not purposely start trouble, that I do not!”

“Maybe not, but you do have a bad habit of it following you around.” Discord replied.

“Even so, that does not make me a trouble maker, that it does not!”

“Even though you say that, I find it hard to believe. You are a trouble maker.”

“No I’m not.” Kenshin replied more confused than irritated as to why he would be called a trouble maker.

“Yes you are.”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are.”

“No I’m not.”

“What about when you were the Hitokiri Battōsai?” Discord asked.

“….”

“My point exactly.”

“WAIT! How do you know about?” Kenshin Asked with wide eyes

“I am the embodiment of chaos. Why wouldn’t I know about you?” Discord said with a deadpan look screamed “seriously”. “Even Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie know of your legend from reading books from Fluttershy’s neighga collection!” said Discord as he snapped his fingers and mad a glass of chocolate appear out of now took a sip from the glass.

“…..Who?” asked the swordsman with a confused look.

“You’ll know soon enough.” He said as he tossed the glass behind him said which caused it to burst into an explosion. This caused Kenshin to have a dumbstruck look.

“What do you want with me Discord-san?” asked Kenshin after regaining his composure, growing suspicious of why the spirit of chaos would want anything to do with him but still maintaining his polite, yet goofy disposition he was so well known for in life. “I really must be dead if I am speaking with a spirit.” Kenshin thought.

“Don’t worry, you won’t be for long and don’t be so formal Kenny.” The Draconequus says as he snaps his fingers and a flash of light appears. As the bright light fades, Kenshin finds two things different, he is now wearing his old light red kimino with white pants and he is now once again carrying his trade mark reverse blade sword.

“sakabatō, but I gave this to Yahiko years ago!” Kenshin examined the sword with amazement.

“It’s an exact copy of the one you wielded in life in every way.” Discord chuckled at Kenshin’s amazement.

“Why are you doing this for me, and why would I need these if I’m dead?” the former manslayer asked with his expressions showing great concern.

“Well, you see I too have done some things in my past that not many people look to highly upon, I personally think they were just a bunch of crybabies. But that’s beside the point, I’ve been reformed now, that’s why I’m going to give you a chance at a new life Kenny, and for where I’m sending you, trust me when I say you’re going to need them.” Discord said while floating in the air on his back with his hands behind his head and a smile on his face.

“Oh and consider this a gift” Discord snapped his fingers and at that moment Kenshin felt a strange sensation of tingling and burning all over his body which caused him to double over in pain, grunting and coughing. As he slowly stood up as he began to recover.

“What *huff* did you *huff* do to me?” he asked with labored breath.

“See for yourself.” The crazy looking man/creature said as he snapped his fingers and a mirror appeared in front of Kenshin, which made the swordsman’s eyes go wide with what he saw. “I made your body revert back to the age of 21 years old” Discord added.

“How did y_” Kenshin tried to ask but was cut off.

“Well, have fun and make sure to play nice with everypony.” Discord said with mischievous laughter.

“…….every…pony?”

“Also if you value your life find a safe place to hide during heat season.”

“What’s heat season?” The naive samurai asked with great confusion but received no answer as the spirit of chaos snapped his fingers and Kenshin disappeared in a flash of blinding light.

“This is going to be interesting!” Discord said with smile that could rival Pinkie’s.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

*Fluttershy’s Cottage – Edge of the Everfree Forest*

Fluttershy always enjoyed this time of the day that she had to relax after she was finished with her daily chores of feeding and taking care of the animals she held so dear. She would use this time to read while curled with her animal friends, it was her favorite way to relax. Her favorite book series was The Red Swordsman from her neighga collection which was about a red headed swordsman with a crossed shape scar on his left cheek, she loved the series because instead of resorting to violence, the swordsman would do everything he could to avoid confrontation, but at the same time he was not afraid to defend his friends and the innocent and those who could not defend themselves, and when he did he would make sure to never kill his enemies no matter what. What made her find the story even more interesting was the fact that swordsman belonged to a mythical race of creatures that had the strangest names in her opinion, “humans” they were called.

She knew that these creatures were just stories and that they did not existed in any way at all, but she still dreamed of what it would be like to meet the legendary swordsman that was so strong that he would defeat his enemies by just drawing his sword alone. She especially enjoyed the days that Pinkie would come over and read with her. Pinkie Pie always loved the action sequences of the story, Fluttershy on the other hand loved how he just wanted to live a life of peace with those he loved. Despite the fact that he was just a fictional character, they both seemed to have a crush on him.

Today Fluttershy was just reading the newest volume of the series while sitting next to her wind and running her fingers through her favorite rabbit’s fur.

“You love mama rubbing your fur don’t you Angel Bunny?” she said with a warm and gentle smile, the white bunny just smiled and nodded its head.

Her peaceful afternoon was interrupted when she saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders from her window, dart past her home at full speed screaming “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MANTICORE TAMERS!!!” while running into the forest.

“What are those silly fillies up to?” she muttered to herself.

Then the cream colored mare’s face went as pale as a sheet when she finally understood what they were planning to do.

“They wouldn’t!” She gasped.

She ran to the edge of the woods and stopped at the entrance to the Everfree forest.

“C-c-c-come on Fluttershy y-you can do this, t-t-those little fillies need you to r-rescue them before they get hurt, now’s not the time to get c-c-cold feet.” She said in a volume that was audible only to her.

At that moment there something Fluttershy saw something that appeared to be a shooting star that was heading straight for the Everfree forest. The second it landed there was a loud explosion that shook not just all of Ponyville, but all of Canterlot too at the same time.

The cream colored mare was shaking uncontrollably at the events that she just witnessed. She knew what she had to do. “I-I-I- c-can do this” She said to herself shakily and repeatedly as she ran into the woods.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

*Everfree Forest*

Lying in a giant smoldering crater there was a red-headed swordsman with a cross shaped scar on his left cheek that was knocked senseless by the impact of his fall. In his current state, he could think of only one thing to say.

“Orororororororo.”

Author's Note

I called this Chapter "Second Chances and Setting Things Right" because I think Kenshin deserves to have a second chance at life after all the crap he went through and also I did not like that the fact that he died at the end of Samurai X: Reflections. Also, I tried to search for a Rurouni Kenshin Fimfic, but I could not find any, so technically this is the first Rurouni Kenshin Crossover on here. (could be wrong). On a side note, I will finish this fic no matter what and I plan on this fic being extremely long. I will try to update this as often and regularly as possible. I will fix any and all grammatical errors later on.

This is my first story so please tell me what you think, please give me your opinions and ideas for the story and constructive criticism, I more than welcome them and to all of those who read this, thank you for taking the time to read this story.