Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters and most likely never will. The Predator is a copyright of Twentieth Century Fox.  Rurouni kenshin and all characters associated with Kenshin are owned by Weekly Shonen Jump comics.  Enjoy and review afterwards please.

Rurouni Kenshin/Predator

Blades of Blood

by Hybrid Digimon Grey

Chapter 1

The Hunt Begins

In the months following the demise of Shishio Makoto, the citizens enjoy the peace and prosperity…but it will not last.  On a hot night, the people see a large star in the sky begin to fall from the heavens.  Misao watches as the star descends and smiled then closes her eyes as she makes a wish…but you all can guess what it was.  The people stand in awe as the star shots over their head and crashes in the nearby mountains.  Hiko Seijuro frowns as he drinks his sake…he can feel the vibrations from the fallen star, but he feels that something evil has also come with it.

“It would seem…that things are about to get interesting,” He said as he finished his sake.

***

            Later that evening two police officers make their rounds unaware that an invisible and silent hunter now stalks them.  The creature can see the weapons the carry on their belts and decides that now…the hunt will start.

            “Do you suppose we have time for a smoke,” one of the officers asked his partner as placed a cigarette in his mouth.

            “I suppose,” the other said,” Nothing has happened yet and I doubt anything will.”

            Suddenly, they heard what sounded like the clicking of an insect nearby…but this sounds seemed even louder than a normal incest made.

            “W…what is that,” one of the officers said.

            The other with the cigarette paused then said,” Just cicada.”

            “This time of year,” the other responded then said,” well…weirder things have ha…”

            Before he could finish, he noticed three red dots on the ground then travel up to his partners chest…the two looked on with curiosity, not exactly sure what to make of it.

            “Hey…what is that,” he asked.

            But before the other could respond, a burst of blue fire shot down from the sky striking the officer’s chest and tearing through him like he was tissue paper.  The officer wanted to stop himself but his arms would not respond.  Before collapsing, he spewed up what seemed like a fountain of blood…some of it splattering onto his partner’s face.  The other police officer drew out his saber and began searching the area for the attacker.  The cold sweat was pouring down his face…his partner was already dead and there was no sign of who had attacked him.

            “Show yourself,” he shouted.

            He began to back up until he bumped into something; he swallowed as he slowly looked up and saw something staring down at him.  He suddenly turned and saw an eight foot giant towering over him.  He was afraid…he had never seen anything like this; a warm sensation in his pants told him that he had pissed himself from fear.  In his shock, the officer did not see the twin blades extend on the monster’s right gauntlet.  With blinding speed, the hunter rams the blades through the officer’s stomach.  The officer gags as he feels the pain wash over him then suddenly and effortlessly he is raised off the ground.  The hunter raises his prey up toward it until they are face to face.  The hunter tilts its head to side studying the human, the officer gags and groans until his body suddenly goes limp.

The hunter allows the corpse to slide off its blade before proceeding to rip out the human’s spinal column and skull.  The hunter holds its trophy by the spinal column then raises it to the night sky and roars, the hunt truly has begun, it then walks over toward the other body and using the twin blades cuts the head free in one clean swipe.  It the places the two skulls into a net then attaches the net to its belt and then begins to deal with the two bodies, before long the hunters disappears into the forest with its two trophies…only the start of its hunt, others would fall, but the hunter only wanted the strongest of them all…there had to be stronger prey than these two.

***

That next day, Cho the Sword Hunter, former member of the Juppongatana, strolls down the street.  He was informed that there were a couple bodies downtown; somebody mentioned something about one of them possibly being a police officer.  Cho sighed, thinking it was just some simple incident where one of the officers was killed while doing his job.  He knew he reached the area when he saw a large congregation of people all pointing and talking, but something struck him as odd…the odor he was smelling was foul, too foul to be just one body.  As he parted the crowd he looked on with wide eyes as he stared up and not one but two headless corpses.  They were hanging upside from the ledge of one of the buildings, their feet tied up by some rope and they were skinned from head to toe…a black mess of flies surrounded their bodies.  Chow looked up in surprise, their muscles and organs were all visible and the smell itself was sickening.  As he looked down at the ground he saw the blood stained uniforms…both of them were, or at least, used to police officers.

            “Their hung up like slaughtered animals,” Cho said to himself

"Judging by the amount of flies and the smell of the body, it would appear that these two have been dead for at least ten hours," a voice from behind Cho said.

Cho turned and saw Saito leaning against a wall smoking a cigarette.  Saito took one last drag before allowing his cigarette to fall to the ground before approaching Cho.

"We’re you the one who did that," Saito asked Cho,” I would hope that you are not continuing your skills as a Juppongatana.”

"You know I gave that up," Cho said, "How long have you been here?"

"Not long…I was sent here to check on you and the other reformed members of the Juppongatana," Saito said as he examined the bodies," Now tell me about these poor bastards."

"I was informed about this incident early this morning, but from what I gather these used to be police," Cho responded,” I don’t who could have done something like this, but I would guess we have a manslayer on the loose.”

"I see," Saito said," well I have to go and check on the other members of the Juppongatana, keep me informed."

As Saito walked away, he felt he was being watched but could see nothing.

            ‘There is something here…I can smell it, but can’t see it,’ Saito thought then sighed as he said,’ probably just those bodies…oh well on to more pressing matters.’

***

Unknown to Saito, Cho, or any of the other people on the top of one of the roofs a silent phantom watching over them all. The creature studied Saito but then turned its attention towards Cho. The creature studied the unusual individual and saw all the swords he holding.  This one seemed like it would be a challenge considering how armed he was…yes, it had found its next target, or rather its next trophy

***

Misao and the others had heard the rumors that a manslayer may be loose in Kyoto.  From what they heard, he had already killed two police officers.

“Okina,” Misao asked,” she would notify Himura and the others?”

“I don’t think so…not yet at least,” Okina said,” I’m sure the police will be able to handle him and if that wasn’t enough, one of them happens to be Cho the former Juppongatana member, and if necessary we will handle this.”

“Okay…but…hey,” Misao looked around the Aoiya and then said,” Where is Lord Aoshi?”

“The temple of course,” Okina said with a sigh.

“Again,” Misao said as her eyes welled up with tears.

***

That night as Cho made his final rounds through the city, the streets were deserted due to the curfew set by the police officers, due to the manslayer, but Chow wasn’t alone.

            ‘Damn it all,’ Cho thought,’ One would assume that this manslayer would have killed again, or have been discovered, but so far nothing…this is getting really…wait…what in the hell is that smell?’

Cho stopped in his tracks when he caught wind of something foul in the air.  The smell seemed to be a mixture of blood, oil and something else he couldn’t quite make out, but his eyes told him there was nothing there.  He looked around the street and toward the rooftops, but saw nothing.

‘Calm down Cho,’ Cho thought,’ You’re getting all worked up over nothing…there’s nothing there damn it…just calm down and finish you’re rounds.’

He continued to stroll down the street until he heard a strange clicking sound, like that of an insect, but it was too loud to be just an insect.  He quickly turned and drew out two swords.  A drop of sweat rolled down his cheek as he continued to stare out into the dark not aware of what was out there.  Suddenly he saw a red light appear out of nowhere and land on his chest.

“What in the hell is…” Cho started until he heard the sound of thunder.

As he looked up again he saw a blast of blue fire flying straight at him.  He quickly dodged to the side as the blast hit the ground.  Cho looked at the direction from where the blast came from and saw two blades walking toward him, but nobody was holding them.

‘It’s a damn ghost,’ Cho’s mind screamed,’ A fucking ghost…how in the hell am I supposed to fight a ghost!?’

Cho couldn't believe his eyes as the phantom continued to approach him, but then there was some electrical crackling.  The creature appeared in the flesh and Cho looked up at the giant in fear and surprise.  The creature was at least eight feet tall, the only distinguishable features on the creature were the large metal mask covering its face and its hair was long, thick, black dreadlocks.  The creature then reached behind its back and pulled out its glaive.

“So you wanna fight do you,” Cho shouted,” then come on!”

Cho charged forward to attack as did the hunter and the two began to battle.  Cho slashed at the hunter with his swords but the hunter blocked the attack with its glaive using only its left hand then with its right, struck Cho’s swords, shattering them as if they were nothing.  Cho fell backwards in shock of what just happened, he quickly stood and removed his shirt and smiled as he moved his left hand toward his back.  The hunter tilted its head at him when it saw a blade heading toward its face.

“There’s no way for you to avoid the act of Hakujin no Tachi,” Cho said as he used the whip-like sword to attack.

Cho watched as the creature looked toward the blade and smiled knowing that this creature could not avoid the attack, when he saw a burst of blue fire shot out from a strange device mounted on the creature’s left shoulder.  The blast connected with the sword and destroyed it.  Cho looked on with wide eyes as half of the blade fell beside the hunter and the other half went limp to the ground.

‘It was only centimeters from his face…how could he have destroyed it,’ Cho thought,’ that was my last line of defense!’

Cho the snapped back to reality as the hunter made the clicking sound he heard earlier.  The hunter had put away its glaive and now lurched forward with the twin blade on its right hand.

“Alright you son of a bitch,” Cho shouted as he charged forward to fight with his fists,” Let’s finish this!”

            ‘I won’t go down with out fight,’ Cho thought just before he felt a great pain in his right shoulder.

He looked down and saw a strange fork-shaped object sticking out.  He suddenly felt more pain as the hunter fired the spear heads at him again.  One tore through the right side of his chest making Cho cough up some blood; another landed in his right knee cap forcing him to collapse to the ground and the last one went right through his right hand, making his arm completely useless.  Cho groaned in pain as he attempted to remove the objects imbedded in his flesh, but he soon stopped as the creature towered over him.

"What the hell are you," Cho spat despite the pain.

"Cho…Trophy," The creature said as in moved closer toward Cho as it arched its right arm back.

"Burn in hell you bastard," Cho screamed

The hunter slashed forward and with one clean movement, severed Cho’s head from his shoulders.  The hunter watched as the head rolled to the ground then slowly walked forward and picked up the head by its blood stained hair and examined its new trophy.  He grunted and made a clicking sound as studied the head then placed it in the net attached to its belt, then as an added bonus picked up the remains of Cho’s Hakujin no Tachi and also tucked that into its belt.  A fine night for hunting but it was not satisfied, it wanted more trophies before it left this planet.  The hunter hoped that there would be more individuals to hunt, even more challenging that this one human.  Before the creature left for its lair, it grabbed Cho's body and quickly headed towards one of the buildings.

***

The next morning, Misao started to head off toward the market place to pick up some materials Okina had asked for.  She exited the Aoiya and that when she became aware of foul odor in the air, it smelled like rotting flesh, then suddenly se felt a drop of water hit her face.

‘Rain,’ she thought as she wiped away the drop only to realize that it was…’Blood!’

She looked up and saw a naked, headless corpse hanging from their sign.  She covered her mouth in shock then ran back inside to tell Okina and the others.

To Be Continued…

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