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Part One: Visitor From Darkness. The Kurogasa Appears.
Part Two: Fight Under the Moonlight. To save the one I love.
...~~~***xXOXx***~~~...
Jin-E knelt on the cool nighttime grass.
Cicadas chirped through the silence. A chilly breeze rustled through the dark forest. The river in the distance gurgled quietly. The full moon lit the clearing, making everything fully visible in its pale light. Not that Jin-E noticed any of this.
He was hurt, badly.
His nose was crushed, sending spikes of pain through his face and filling him with the wonderful smell of blood. His right arm was even worse. Bones shattered, ligaments and tendons torn. It was completely destroyed, and absolutely useless. He had never been damaged so badly in his life, and the only occasion that had ever even come close was twenty five years ago.
Worst of all though, was his pride.
He wasn’t ashamed of his vicious wounds. They had been given to him by Kenshin Himura, the one and only Hitokiri Battousai. By any fighter’s standards, the wounds were an honor. Jin-E could ask for no greater pleasure than to be able to truthfully say that he fought the legendary Battousai.
No, his damaged pride was owed to a young girl.
“I’m fine now. Don’t worry, Kenshin. I’m alright now.”
Her voice was unbearable to hear. It instilled Jin-E with a fury that went deep into his core. This was unacceptable. How had a mere woman’s swordsman spirit broken his paralyzing Shin no Ippō? Not only that, but the strongest casting he had ever performed?
Jin-E was disgusted by himself. Was he really so weak? How had he lost that fight? He had spent decades honing his skill, only the most powerful men could defeat his qi.
And now this female was too much for him to handle.
He was useless as a manslayer, and useless as anything else. Even more infuriating, the woman had stopped the Battousai from putting Jin-E out of his misery. The rage built in his heart, and he stood, facing Kenshin and his woman.
The girl gasped, looking into his steel colored eyes. It would be so easy to recast his paralysis. Just a look, and she’d be completely helpless.
But what would that accomplish? She had already proven to be too much for his will, doing it again would prove fruitless. He wouldn’t be able to hurt her afterward, either way. Kenshin would defend her. Even in this weakened state of his, Kenshin was more powerful than Jin-E’s body was currently capable of.
There was only one thing he could do.
“To think, that my Shin no Ippō could be defeated by a girl like her…” Jin-E said, drawing his wakizashi. The curved steel blade glinted in the moonlight, pure and unmarred by the crimson of blood.
Not for long
“Stop it, Jin-E. You have no chance of winning, that you don’t. Especially with only a short sword and your left arm,” Kenshin said, not even turning to face him,“It’s over, now. I recommend that you let the police take you peacefully, that you should.”
Jin-E grinned manically, raising the short sword high into the air.
“No. It’s not over yet,” he growled, his rage focusing his cause, “One last thing...” Kenshin grabbed his dropped sword from the ground, spinning to face Jin-E. His sword fell, as he completed his sentence, “...That I must do!”
The wakizashi plunged deep into Jin-E’s own breast.
The sensation was incredible. The burning ache so deep in his body. He had never experienced this before, no one had ever been able to hurt him so badly. The knowledge that he had done it with his own hands was almost as joyous as it would have been, had the Battousai delivered the wound.
Jin-E gasped, becoming overwhelmed by the feeling of the steel inside his torso. His lungs expanded, being further sliced open by the edge on his own weapon. His heart pulsed, rubbing against the dull side of the short sword. The fiery pain flooded his entire being. He could feel, and see, and hear, and smell, and taste everything. His body knew it was dying, and it was trying to make his last moments the most pleasurable of his life.
“What a nice feeling!” Jin-E said, breathlessly.
He fell to the ground, unable to stand under the intensity of his senses. He let out a grunt when he hit the ground, blood spewing forth from his bosom. He merely lay there for a moment, basking in the warmth of his mortality’s imminence.
Idly, he cast his gaze over to those who had ruined him. The Battousai’s eyes were soft, casting off pity. It deeply pained Jin-E to see such an incredible warrior once again held down by the weaknesses of guilt and empathy.
“Don’t look at me like that, Battousai,” he said, blood flooding his lungs, “I much preferred the look in your eyes when you said– ...you were going to kill me.”
Kenshin’s eyes widened in confusion at the revelation.
“Within every fibre of your being,” Jin-E continued, “you are truly a manslayer. I am also a manslayer, so I know of what I speak. A manslayer is a manslayer, until the day he dies. He can never be anything else.”
A cough erupted from him, blood dribbling out of his mouth and running down his chin. He drew a shaky breath, determined to say his last words before the approaching darkness took him.
“I’ll be watching you from the edge of Hell, to see how long you can keep saying you’re a wanderer.”
With a final muted chuckle, Jin-E allowed death to seep into his mind and sweep his soul away.
...~~~***xXOXx***~~~...
Jin-E felt nothing. Not the ground beneath him, not the sword in his chest, not even the clothes on his body. He didn’t feel the wind, or the cold of night.
Was this the afterlife? If it was, it was incredibly boring.
He was beginning to regret dying.
NOT SO FAST, LITTLE PUPPET.
There was a voice. It was deep, but soft also. Clear, but not bombastic, merely rumbling. The eeriness from the voice came from the fact that it wasn’t a sound. Jin-E simply felt the impressions of a voice in his very mind.
THERE IS YET ANOTHER ROLE FOR YOU TO PLAY.
A different voice. This one was also deep, but slightly huskier. Jin-E had a feeling that if he still had a body, it would be able to feel the vibrations from this voice.
Jin-E was confused. Who were these voices? Where was he? Why couldn’t he feel his body?
NONE OF THAT MATTERS, JIN-E.
The voice had read his mind. Not even that, it had read his thought process. He hadn’t even formed a coherent sentence yet. A thought crossed his mind. Maybe these beings were the keepers of the afterlife, here to judge him for his actions. Maybe they were here to put him in hell.
WE WILL NOT HURT YOU.
Why was he here? What was happening to him?
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IS ENTIRELY UP TO YOU. YOU WILL HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO GARNER SUCCESS ON THE UPCOMING STAGE.
THE STAGE IS ALL WE WILL OFFER YOU. YOU HAVE CONTROL OVER THE PERFORMANCE.
Jin-E felt his consciousness fading away, and panic rose within him. Before he could even begin to formulate a plan of resistance, he was asleep.
...~~~***xXOXx***~~~...
The lilting songs of distant birds roused Jin-E from his slumber. The first thing that came to his mind was confusion. Was that experience a dream? Where was he now? What happened to the Battousai? Why wasn’t he dead? He opened his eyes, looking around the grove he was now in.
Thin young trees shaded him from the warm afternoon sun. White blossoms were dotted amongst the green leaves that dappled the ground with shadow. Small rouge-colored fruits hung from occasional branches, adding another splash of distinct color to the scene. A pleasantly sweet aroma filled the air, putting Jin-E in mind of cherry orchards back home. A breeze rustled listlessly through the trees, causing the topiary to dance lazily. Somewhere off to his right, a small brook babbled to the birds and trees.
Jin-E was pleasantly surprised by his surroundings. There were certainly less beautiful places to awaken, and being alive was a bonus.
He looked down to his body. It was once again fully covered by his off-white kimono, despite Jin-E clearly remembering his torso being exposed. His katana and wakizashi were both safely sheathed in their respective scabbards, and properly secured in his obi. He noted that his red scarf and namesake black hat were returned to their most previous locations on his body. He even felt the weight of his coinpurse tucked into his kimono.
Jin-E realized that couldn’t feel the pain of any of his wounds, not even his nose. With his left arm, he opened his kimono, to look down at his chest. The black elastic suit underneath was completely unmarred, where there should have been a mortal wound. Gingerly, he lifted his right arm, ready to feel the excruciating effects of a shattered elbow. The arm didn’t even look or act broken, it seemed to be completely unharmed.
Perhaps this is what those voices had meant, by “We will give you everything you need to succeed...” He wasn’t complaining, he had not enjoyed having a useless lump of flesh where his faithful limb had been.
As Jin-E finished his inspection, his stomach decided to make known its emptiness. Having thusly been ordered to get up, he made his way onto his feet. He looked into the branches of the tree he had been sleeping under, and noticed a fruit hanging low near him. He picked the fruit, and brought it up to his face, to inspect it.
The fruit was mostly red, but also had patches of pale green showing. It was bulbous at the bottom, and markedly thinner near the stem. The fruit stirred something in Jin-E’s memory. He had seen this fruit, in high-class shops and the homes of some of the more corrupted imperialist fatcats he had murdered.
If he remembered correctly, they were called ‘pears’, a fruit from northern Europe. They were very rare and expensive.
Though, the ones he had seen were all pale green, much like the faint blotches on the fruit’s skin. Perhaps they were unripe, or possibly a different breed? Regardless, Jin-E had eaten less palatable things during his travels through the wilderness as an outlaw.
He brought the pear to his mouth, and bit into it. Sure enough, the fruit was sour, and unpleasantly textured. His stomach would have to deal with it, though. He wouldn’t pass this opportunity to eat. A little indigestion was the worst that could possibly come from this meal, and he had just overcome death.
After finishing the first pear, he took three more, and ate them all. Unable to stand the taste anymore, he decided to waylay eating any more unripened fruit. He sought out the brook, and cleaned his palate.
Finally finished delaying his hunger, Jin-E took stock of his situation.
He was completely unmarred, after having taken his own life. He had all of his possessions, after having purposefully thrown most of them away. He was completely lost, his only clue as to his location being the fruit trees in this orchard. They were a European fruit, that meant he was most likely somewhere in Europe.
Jin-E once again thought of the voices that had spoken to him in that void. Considering the facts that he had been restored to perfect health after dying, he was wont to make the conclusion that they were gods. They had implied that they wanted him to do something here. Put on a ‘performance’, they had said.
If they were gods, that meant that they knew who Jin-E was. He was a manslayer, and that was it. He was skilled at killing people, nothing else. If they had specifically chosen him for this ‘performance’, that meant they wanted him to kill people. Jin-E was fine with killing people, especially if he had clearance with the gods to do so.
With no context as to where he should go, he picked a random direction to set off in, trusting that these gods would guide him in the right direction.
...~~~***xXOXx***~~~...
Jin-E walked down the path he had found. It had led him out of the pear orchard, through a gate with an indecipherable sign hanging above it. He hadn’t noticed a farmhouse on the way, so he assumed it was on the opposite end of the trail. That meant that continuing on the path as he was, he would eventually come across a town. That would probably be a better place to learn about his situation than some random farm in the middle of nowhere.
Thus decided, he trekked on. He was glad that he wore boots, instead of the more popular waraji. Travelling between towns was not really a comfortable prospect, when rocks and other detritus could easily access your feet.
Not that there was much that could dampen his lively spirits. He had been given a new lease on life, and he intended to use it to the fullest. As he walked, he sang a song about a boy born of a peach, who was destined to destroy the demons that plagued the village he lived in.
When Jin-E finished his song, he noticed the shapes of houses far in the distance. Another pleasant surprise, he hadn’t been expecting to see any towns for quite some time. Turning around, he could still see the pear farm off in the distance. Perhaps this pear farm was the town’s main source of trade? He could think of no other reason for a farm to be so close to a town.
Looking back to the town, Jin-E noticed its size. It was incredibly small, easily the smallest village he had seen in his life so far. Evidently, the pear farm was also the village’s main source of produce. There was no way a town so small could survive through trade with other villages.
The village’s size also held poor omens for Jin-E’s wish to learn more about his predicament.
Still optimistic, Jin-E passed the time with more songs.
...~~~***xXOXx***~~~...
By the time he finally reached the idyllic village, he had nearly sung all of the songs he knew. Glad to be back at civilization, he took a closer look at the houses in the village. They were very different from the ones he was used to. The accentuations were strange, mostly asymmetrical depictions of flora. Back home, the houses were decorated by strict geometrical shapes.
He entered the village, gazing around the homes to soak up as much information as he could gather. He noticed that nearly every house had a small yard, separated from the road with short white fences. All of the yards were filled with various bushes, most of which were flowering.
The sound of voices caught his attention. Following them, he rounded a corner, to see a very strange sight. He had found the voices, a group of them. There was only one problem: the owners of the voices were not human.
Jin-E honestly couldn’t begin to name the creatures before him. They were hoofed quadrupeds, standing up to his waist. Their freakishly large heads were home to equally disturbing eyes. Pointed, animalistic ears stood on top of their heads. On their faces sat small rounded snouts, undeniably the sources of the voices.
Each creature was colored differently, all of the colors present garishly bright. They had manes and tails, all shaped into various styles. The rump of every creature was marked with a symbol, no two matching.
Caught in his reverie, Jin-E hardly noticed when one of the creatures spotted him. It gasped and froze up, staring at him with unadulterated fear. Its behavior was quickly noticed, and more of the creatures turned to gaze at him with terror. Slowly, absent-mindedly, the creatures all began to back into each other. Over time, the creatures were all crowded into a tightly-knit herd.
They stood so locked for quite some time. Jin-E was just about to make a move, when one of the smaller creatures broke off from the herd. Timidly, it approached him. This one was significantly smaller than the others, its giant eyes portrayed misplaced innocence. It was most likely a child. One of the adults in the wall of creatures held out its hoof, whispering inaudibly for the child to return to it.
The child was white in coat, with a pale blue mane and tail. Its eyes were a bright gold in color. Interestingly, the young one was not marked, as the adults were.
The childish creature warily walked forward, ears pressed down on its head in worry. When it had made a sizeable gap between itself and the cluster of creatures, it cleared its throat and spoke.
“Hello there, I’m Mumbles. What’s your name?” he said, his gender confirmed.
“Interesting,” Jin-E returned, “Your written language is unreadable, but you speak in fluent Japanese.”
“Um… I don’t know what ‘Japanese’ is, but I speak Equestrian,” Mumbles said, seemingly not expecting Jin-E to ignore his initial question. “Who are you, mister?”
A wild thought crossed Jin-E’s mind, and he grinned maniacally, reaching to pull his katana from its sheath.
“I’ve never had the pleasure of slaughtering an entire town before. I think I am going to enjoy this immensely.”
...~~~***xXOXx***~~~...
Twilight Sparkle sat on her couch, sipping idly at her tea as she dictated her letter.
“...In conclusion, I strongly believe that we should not submit to the Sun Party’s wishes to revoke stallion’s rights to vote and travel without a passport. Yours Truly, Princess Twilight Sparkle,” the alicorn mare spoke, her eyes closed in assured leisure. “Did you get all that, Spike?”
“Princess... Twilight... Sparkle,” the tiny dragon repeated, “Got it! Is that it?”
“Yes. Please send it off to Mayor Mare,” Twilight responded.
Spike rolled up the scroll and stamped it with Twilight’s official royal crest as Twilight sipped her tea. When it was properly addressed, the baby dragon blew his postal fire onto the correspondence. The parchment was completely disintegrated, turning into a plume of magical smoke and flying out the open window. It would seek out the recipient without error, and immediately re-materialize into the message it once was.
“It’s on its way, Twilight,” Spike informed the princess, once finished with his task.
“Thank you, Spike,” Twilight said. “How about you come join me for tea?”
“Sure thing!” Spike exclaimed, making his way over to his mentor’s side.
Just before he made it to her, he felt a message incoming.
“Oof, hang on Twilight, we’ve got some mail,” he managed to groan, just before a belch erupted from his tiny body, sending green magic flames into the air. The flame quickly turned into smoke, which condensed into a message.
“Really? That was quick, especially for the Mayor,” Twilight said, catching the message in her magical grasp. “Wait… This is Princess Celestia’s crest. Oh, how nice! I was just thinking about sending her a letter!”
Twilight slit the wax open, unrolling the scroll to read the message her old teacher had sent her.
~Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
I have sent you this message on official royal business. I regret to inform you that Canterlot has not received contact from the small village of Maredock for four days. This is not much cause for alarm, but tradition dictates that a Royal Princess of Equestria must make a formal visit, to ensure the town’s continued well being.
This is where you come in. I believe this would be an excellent opportunity for you to learn more about Equestrian Law, and traditional royal duties. I would like to invite you to come with me to officially check up on Maredock.
Please send a response to either accept or decline. I will be arriving in one hour, to escort you there. We will also use this as an opportunity to get you some more experience with flying.
Your friend,
Princess Celestia
“Wow… sounds like something’s going on,” Spike commented, after he finished reading the letter over Twilight’s shoulder.
“Probably not, Spike,” Twilight said. “It’s more likely that they just missed a day, or were too busy to keep contact. We’re most likely just going to get there and Princess Celestia will scold them, or something like that.”
“So, you’re going with, then?” Spike asked.
“Of course. I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to spend time with Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, matter-of-factly. “Not to mention the opportunity to learn about my new responsibilities. Could you send her my answer while I get ready?”
“Sure thing, Twilight!” The dragon chirped, walking over to the desk to find the proper writing equipment.
“I’ve never visited another town on official royal business before. I think I am going to enjoy this immensely.”
Author's Note
Coauthor: Permanent Temporary
Proofreader: Hidden Brony
Editor: Roman Empire
Go czech these guys out. They are awesome.
My friend, Permanent, told me all about this god-awful Kenshin crossover. We mercilessly tore the shit out of it, but got to a point where the author asked the readers if he should include extra characters.
I instantly suggested Jin-E.
So, that is how a really sub-standard crossover inspired this one. It's personally the fic I'm currently most proud of.
Feel free to post this into any groups it should be in, but isn't yet.
