Unforgiven

by tir-synni

 

A/N:  Every time I hear this song now, I think of Kenshin...or Hiei or Heero.  Mainly Kenshin, though.  The characters aren't mine, and neither is the song.  The song belongs to Metallica, and if you ever get the chance, listen to it.  It's worth it.  Read and please review!

 

 

New blood joins the earth

And quickly he's subdued

 

A young Shinta, sold to the slavetraders. Desperately, the redhead glances

back behind him, at the only home he's ever known. One of the slavetraders

notice and strikes him in the jaw. Shinta stumbles and falls to his knees. A

trickle of blood streams out of the corner of his mouth, landing silently on the

dirt.

 

Through constant pained disgrace

The young boy learns their rules

 

A whip slams on Shinta's back after he stumbles and drops a load of wood.

Another one hisses, slashing his thin clothes and drawing blood. He bows in head

in shame and humiliation, tears burning his eyes, as he quickly scoops up the

fallen wood. Another whip sears him, and he hurries his pace.

 

With time the child draws in

This whipping boy done wrong

 

From a distance, young Shinta is seen, kneeling among many other slaves. The

others are cast in shadow, while the blood on his fraying clothes and his hair,

covering his bowed head, shines in the dark.

 

Deprived of all his thoughts

The young man struggles on and on he's known

A vow unto his own

 

Shinta grips the sword in his hands, desperate to protect his loved ones.  Before he can move, they pull him back into their protective arms.  He sits there helplessly as he watches them die.

 

That never from this day

His will they'll take away

 

Shinta stands in the makeshift graveyard, staring at Hiko with wide eyes.  The older man walks away, and he hurriedly follows.  His eyes flit to the silent stones behind him.  To the people who had died for him.

 

What I've felt

What I've known

Never shined through in what I've shown

 

Battousai walking away from Akira's lifeless body, the scar on his face bleeding

freely. A single flower rests on Akira's back--the one he had been reaching for

when Battousai had killed him. The one Battousai had put there.

 

Never be

Never see

Won't see what might have been

 

A young Shinta smiling at his parents, soundless laughter coming from his mouth.

He reaches for them, only to withdraw in horror. Now only his parents' rotting

corpses lay before him.  Battousai awakens, his eyes blank.

 

What I've felt

What I've known

Never shined through in what I've shown

 

He turns away from Katsura, disregarding his offer to attend the meeting.

Coldly, Battousai informs him he can only serve him as an assassin.

 

Never free

Never me

So I dub thee unforgiven

 

Battousai completing another assignment. This time, however, he doesn't walk

away. He stares, horrified, at his reflection in the water, as his victim's

blood washes over it. He stares at his reflection, trapped behind a sea of

blood.

 

They dedicate their lives

To running all of his

He tries to please them all

This bitter man he is

 

Battousai accept another black envelope, his eyes like golden mirrors as he

slips it into his sleeve. He doesn't say a word of protest. He simply walks

away. The pain in his soul never shows.

 

Throughout his life the same

He's battled constantly

 

Flash of Kenshin living with Tomoe, struggling to leave his hitokiri days behind

him. He smiles, commenting happily that his father was a great farmer. Perhaps

he could be, too.

 

This fight he cannot win

A tired man they see no longer cares

 

A dazed Kenshin/Battousai, stumbling through the snow to reach Tomoe. All the

while, the same words are running through his mind, that he had killed Tomoe's

fiancee, that she was a traitor...that he should kill her.

 

The old man then prepares

To die regretfully

That old man is me

 

Bloodied and scarred, Kenshin holds Tomoe in his arms, screaming a sobbing

denial to the sky. Then he collapses, clutching Tomoe's lifeless body to him.

 

What I've felt

What I've known

Never shined through in what I've shown

 

Battousai spinning his top before him in his bedroom. He stares at it, his

golden eyes flashing violet for a moment. In that moment, a tear shines.

 

Never be

Never see

Won't see what might have been

 

A young Shinta, in his mother's tender arms.  An older Shinta, gazing wide-eyed as Hiko walked away from the bloody scene.  Kenshin, blinking as Hiko coldly dismissed him to become a murderer.  Battousai, in the darkness, a stained katana in his hands, staring with empty eyes.

 

What I've felt

What I've known

Never shined through in what I've shown

 

At night, when all is dark and silent, a night when Battousai has no

assignments, he buries his face in his hands. He tries to cry, to mourn the ones

he had killed, but the tears won't come.

 

Never free

Never me

So I dub thee unforgiven

 

Battousai standing before a mirror. Shakily, he reaches up and fingers his

cheek. The gash Akira gave him is still bleeding, and his hand comes away wet

with his blood.

 

You labeled me

I'll label you

So I dub thee unforgiven

 

Battousai walking away from the mirror, his hand now utterly soaked with his

blood. Behind him, the mirror lays in pieces, shattered by his fist.  On his face, Tomoe's scar bleeds.

 

Never free

Never me

So I dub thee unforgiven

 

Kenshin, ten years after he had given up the Battousai. He laughs with Sano and

does the dishes for Kaoru without complaint. Unconsciously, he reaches up to

touch the scar on his cheek. The pain he feels never reaches his eyes.

 

You labeled me

I label you

So I dub thee unforgiven

 

“What’s your name?”

“Shinta.”

“A child’s name. Too soft for a swordsman.  From now on, you’ll be called Kenshin.”

“Ken...shin....”