Rurouni Kenshin and the Lord of the Rings, a fanfic by John the Visionary, chapter 59

This is a work in progress (not yet complete). It is the best combination of anime and Lord of the Rings that I've seen yet, which is why I asked John for permission to post it here. Enjoy. Tim Seltzer

John's Disclaimer: Disclaimer: The Lord of the Rings and RK are not mine. They belong to their authors, respectively J.R.R. Tolkien and Watsuki Nobuhiro. This fanfiction is created just for fun, not for any commercial purposes.

A/n: Happy Valentine's day! For this special occasion, I'm posting three chapters today. Say hello to your sweethearts, if you all have any. Well, here are Chapters 4-6, enjoy!

Everyone went to sleep… though there were few who were awake, namely Kenshin and Aragorn. They looked about the Main Hall, seeing Éowyn sleeping alone on a chaise. Aragorn and Kenshin then turned to the hearth within the Golden Hall, seeing that there was a bit of fire kindling still. The pair picked up pieces of firewood, using them to put out the fire.

Aragorn then turned to the resting Éowyn, noticing that her feet and shoulders were uncovered, and walked over to her, leaving Kenshin to tend to the fire. The Dunedain ranger stood over Éowyn, as he spread the blanket over her feet, then her shoulders…

"Not yet dawn," answered Aragorn silently as he finished covering her shoulders…

"I dreamed I saw a great wave," deadpanned Éowyn, with her hand still grasping the ranger's, "climbing over green lands and above the hills. I stood upon the brink. It was utterly dark in the abyss before my feet."

Aragorn noticed the strain of fear within Éowyn's voice and knelt down to meet her eyes. Kenshin, also noticing her dismay, walked up to Éowyn for additional support.

Éowyn quietly added, with tears in her eyes, "…a light shone behind me, but I could not turn. I could only stand there, waiting."

"You need not worry so much Miss Éowyn," Kenshin softly added, "everyone has nightmares, that they do. However… most of my life has been a nightmare, because of my past life as Battousai the Manslayer."

"…Yes Miss Éowyn," answered Kenshin with a small nod, "she's not one to let anything make her sad, that she most certainly isn't."

Éowyn paused a moment, before saying thoughtfully, "…I wish that I could sleep next to her. She smiles so brightly… just like I did in my youth."

Kenshin smiled somberly, knowing that Éowyn had found a kindred spirit within Misao. He could sense that a part of Éowyn ached because she wasn't with her new friend, sleeping in the same room together.

"As Kenshin said, you don't have to worry so much," assured Aragorn, "you'll be able to see Misao in the morning. Sleep now, Éowyn… sleep…"

"…While you can," Aragorn softly ended to Éowyn, gently laying her hand within the warmth of the bed.

Aragorn turned to Kenshin, glancing with a thankful expression for his support. Kenshin nodded fervently in response… and they walked away from Éowyn… leaving her to her slumber.

Radagast the Brown, Okina, Omasu, and Chou returned to the Aoiya after a grueling encounter with an Orc within the Police Department. Radagast carried the palantir within his brown cloak. Everyone, including the children, Ayame and Suzume, gathered in the main room to hear the wizard's report.

"Yes, indeed they were, Megumi," answered Radagast, "the one that Chou knew as Kanama, was nothing more than an Orc disguised as a man, but tainted by Sauron's will."

Radagast held up a part of his brown cloak with something round within it, adding further, "he communicated with Sauron, by means of this."

"It is one of the seven seeing stones of Numenor, which in your eyes, it would be like a round, shiny black crystal ball," explained Radagast, "they are all called Palantiri which means, that-which-looks-far-away, in High-Elven. They were originally from the land of Eldamar until brought into Middle-Earth by Elendil, Isildur's father. One who would gaze into this stone would see whatever he or she would wish, unrestricted by time or space."

Hearing this explanation, Ayame and Suzume, standing next to Megumi, gasped to themselves, feeling that if they used that stone… they might be able to see Kenshin again. Thoughts of that stone had entered their thoughts, very eager to use it…

"So," interjected Megumi, asking thoughtfully, "we could see what's happening to Sir Ken?"

"We could, but that's completely out of the question," returned Radagast, "you see, after they arrived in Middle-Earth, they were distributed throughout the Numenorean realms-in-exile.

"…But throughout time, many of the Palantiri were lost or taken by the enemy. Sauron captured one of the stones when the Ringwraiths overran Minas Ithil in the year 2002 of the Third Age. The city of Minas Ithil was thus renamed Minas Morgul by then. Saruman also had one of these stones in his possession to communicate to Sauron.

"So make no mistake, this stone is touched by evil, and is not to be messed with! The consequences could be severe if one foolishly does so," finished Radagast.

"Yeah, alright," said Megumi, with a bit of skepticism, "so what do we do with it in the meantime? Can we destroy it then?"

"I don't know, Megumi," answered an uncertain Radagast, "but when we found this thing at the Police department, I had another message from Gandalf. He went to see Saruman to get some information from him. Gandalf was about to get Saruman to talk about the enemy's plan of attack, but his manservant called Wormtongue stabbed the foul traitor repeatedly in the back. Saruman is dead now, along with the Orc who had this stone with him. And I suspect that it was Saruman who taught the Orc how to mask himself as a man, since Saruman was the first to open the portals into this world."

"So, in other words," interjected Hiko, "now that our only two witnesses are dead, we're back to where we started and we don't know where and when Sauron will make his strike."

"Yes," responded Radagast fatefully, then went on, "…but Gandalf told me that he also has a Palantir with him, the one that Saruman had with him. He picked it up after Saruman was killed. Lastly… Gandalf assured me that every corner of Middle-Earth will be notified of Sauron's move against us all."

"Gandalf said that he would tell me later," replied Radagast, "but until then, I suggest we get some rest for the night, so we can prepare ourselves to tell the Police and Army about what's been happening… and what to do to prepare for it."

Aragorn and Kenshin walked outside the Golden Hall after tending with Éowyn. They turned to see Legolas standing nearby to their left, and walked over to him. The Elf stared out into the distance, as if he was having a very bad omen…

"You seem very restless, Sir Legolas," mentioned Kenshin, "…what has you so preoccupied, at this time of night?"

"…The stars are veiled, Kenshin," replied Legolas, "something stirs in the East… a sleepless malice."

For a moment… Kenshin immediately felt what his Elf companion felt. The same darkness that had been growing since he left Frodo behind. In all his battles, using the Hiten Mitsurugi Style, he never, in his whole lifetime… felt an evil like this. An evil that had surpassed all other evils, known and unknown to him.

While Legolas, Kenshin, and Aragorn were observing the east… the others were asleep within the Golden Hall. Merry, Pippin, and Misao slept together in one of the rooms, with Gandalf, in quilts and blankets made of animal skins. Gimli and Sanosuke were also sleeping in that room, exhausted with the drinking contest they had with Legolas.

Merry and Misao slept peacefully, but Pippin became restless, with his eyes focused upon seeing the dark globe known as the Palantir, again, ever since the victory at Isengard. Growing impatient and driven by an unknown impulse that he did not understand… the Hobbit uncovered himself, quietly stood up from his pallet, not making a sound, hardly breathing… and crept nearer and quickly, foot by foot, to the bed where Gandalf slept.

Pippin turned back surprised to see Merry awake, but made no reply, only looked at him with eyes pleading for understanding. Then he turned back to Gandalf…

And saw that Gandalf's eyes were open. Pippin jolted a little, but noticed that the wizard was not moving.

Then… Misao fluttered her eyes open and lifted her head to see Pippin standing over Gandalf.

"Hey, Pippin," spoke Misao, "what do you think you're doing up this late. Go back to bed."

Pippin did naught but peek a little to his back, noticing Misao. Unwilling to listen to Misao, Pippin moved closer to Gandalf and waved his hand over his eyes, to see if he was awake. Convinced that he was asleep, Pippin instantly looked over and spotted the stone within his arms, wrapped in a grey cloth in the crook of the wizard's arm, determined to look at it again.

Misao was filled with the same suspicion as Merry, seeing Pippin lean over Gandalf the way he was. Pippin then looked down… and picked up a large old round-bottomed pitcher to exchange for the Palantir that Gandalf was guarding within his arms. As he did…

Gandalf grunted a little, making Pippin gasp fearfully, but then relaxed, knowing that Gandalf wasn't moving. Pippin stealthily put out his free hand… and lifted the cloth from the wizard, quickly replacing the pitcher in Gandalf's arms.

Pippin then crossed the room… and laid the cloth onto the ground as he said pleadingly, "I just want to look at it, just one more time."

"But didn't you hear what Gandalf said?" interjected Misao, "you shouldn't be looking at that."

But alas, Pippin did not listen to his friends as he quickly drew off the cloth… and smiled at the sight of the smooth, dark globe in front of him, with sweat glistening over his face. Misao too was filled with a little desire for the Palantir, having first glanced at it at Isengard, but fought the urge with her own instincts to stay away, as she was told to…

The others were getting their much-needed sleep, preparing for the arrival of the police commissioner and the minister of defense. Many of them rested with troubled minds. But some minds were too troubled for them to get any sleep. Ayame and Suzume, sleeping next to Megumi, suddenly woke up, and remembered that the wizard had an object in which they could see into Middle-Earth.

The children quietly stood up, trying not to wake Megumi, and walked quietly out of their room. Since the Aoiya was a big place… they went out searching every room, looking for the Palantir that Radagast had in his possession. Despite the fact that they were told not to look into the stone, they felt… empty, very empty without Kenshin. And so the children wanted a chance to see if he was okay.

Ayame and Suzume then walked into a room… and found the wizard, sleeping with the wrapped Palantir in his arms. Ochika, Omasu, and Sojiro were in the room with him. The children quietly made their way across the room, looking to their sides to see if the occupants of the room were moving. Ayame and Suzume were right next to Radagast with no interference, looking down onto the brown cloth with the stone in it and they both very quietly… reached out for the stone…

But the brown wizard groaned and moved a little, shifting his positions of comfort from within the pallet he was sleeping in. After he settled… Ayame and Suzume slowly reached out again…

And removed the stone from Radagast's grasp. The children walked a little ways away from the wizard and laid the covered stone on the floor, as they began to slowly uncover the dark globe.

In the room that Ayame and Suzume were sleeping in… Megumi suddenly awoke up to find the children gone. Fearing for their safety… she stood up from her pallet and left the room, immediately looking around the restaurant to find them, trying not to wake the others… if she could…

Pippin looked at his Palantir, like a greedy child, stooping over a bowl of food. At first the globe was dark, black as night. Then… there came a faint glow and stir in the heart of it, which held his eyes so much, that now... he could not look away...

It was the same for the children, Ayame and Suzume, as they eyed their globe with desperation, as the glow from their stone stirred them up, fueling their longing urge… to see Kenshin once more…

Pippin lowered his hands, placing them on the stone, and leaned down over it, to admire, touch, and caress its shiny luster…

Ayame and Suzume placed their hands on their stone as well, but only with the itching, irresistible desire to see Kenshin… and waited…

"Okay, Pippin, you've had your look," Misao said quietly, seeing the glow within the stone, that she didn't like, "now let it go already."

The light in the Palantiri stones grew slowly… until they took the shape of a flaming eye with a slitted black pupil in the middle. Pippin's smile then faded, upon seeing the Lidless Eye…

And Pippin was seized so much… that he was unable to take his hands off of the Palantir, and started shaking very fiercely… and violently, though he didn't move an inch…

Suzume and Ayame were also seized very fiercely, with their hands stuck upon the fiery stone…

They… as well as Pippin were in great pain, which was clearly obvious, as they all began to screech and writhe quietly… trembling before the Eye of Sauron…

Megumi then heard a faint, horrid sound… and saw a dim light permeating from a room on her right. It was not very far from where she stood in the darkness. She walked up to the room… opened the sliding door…

And saw Ayame and Suzume's very painful struggle against the Palantir with the Eye of Sauron shining darkly within it.

"Pippin!" gasped Misao and Merry, continuing to watch in horror at Pippin, struggling with the glowing Palantir…

Legolas felt a jolt of dark power, from where he stood at the Golden Hall as he told Kenshin and Aragorn, "…he is here…"

And Pippin suddenly jumped up, holding the Palantir, glowing like a live fire, in his hand as if it was glued to his hands…

The children suddenly jolted upwards and squirmed in pain, then they both collapsed… and wriggled onto the floor of Radagast's room, also unable to let the fiery stone go. They were both in danger from Sauron as was Pippin…

Pippin continued to scream out, being tortured by Sauron's indomitable will. And it didn't matter to Sauron if Ayame and Suzume were children… he too, tortured them, very… very viciously…

Radagast, Sojiro, and the two women woke up and saw the children being tormented by Sauron.

"Good grief," Radagast gasped to himself in great shock as he helplessly watched Sauron's dreadful harassment of Ayame and Suzume…

Sauron spoke to his victims, with his voice excruciatingly and agonizingly tormenting their every thought. Pippin still was unable to release the stone and fell on his back, crying out painfully. Misao went to try to take the Palantir out of Pippin's hands, but…

"AHHHHH!" Misao screamed horrifically, feeling some of the powers of the Eye, and fell back, writhing in agony.

Then Gandalf woke from his sleep… witnessing before his eyes the horror of Pippin's torture by Sauron. Aragorn, Kenshin, Saito, Aoshi and Legolas quickly burst into the room, also watching this tormenting event with Pippin and the Palantir.

"What in blazes?" Saito grimaced, while Aoshi gasped despairingly, recognizing the flaming eye of Sauron within the Palantir.

Megumi went to the children's aid, trying to take the Palantir… but it was no good. Sauron also gave her a painful shock of his powers, as he did to Misao. Upon seeing this, the others gasped in horror.

Hiko, with Okina right behind him, then rushed in and grabbed the Palantir, still stuck upon the children's grasp. He used all his strength to hold off against Sauron's powers…

Aragorn and Kenshin raced over to Pippin, and hastily grabbed the stone, trying to overcome Sauron's powers to pull it from the tortured Pippin. Sanosuke shifted a little, sleeping against the wall, as his eyes fluttered in confusion…

"Eh… what's going on here?" muttered Sanosuke, as he began to notice Kenshin and Aragorn struggling to pull the Palantir from Pippin and gasped with fright.

After struggling for a few moments… Aragorn and Kenshin were able to pull the stone from the Hobbit's grasp and now struggled with it themselves…

The master of Hiten Mitsurugi finally was able to pull the Palantir from Ayame and Suzume and also heaved over, struggling with the flaming stone in his grasp.

"Master Hiko!" Ochika cried out… and swiftly kicked the fiery, evil globe out of his hands, receiving a terrible blast of Sauron's wrath herself, to the foot, as she fell to the floor, holding her afflicted foot in agony.

The orb landed hard on the floor and started to roll like a ball of fire. Megumi, Okina and Omasu moved away, trying to evade the accursed seeing stone's path…

Legolas and Sanosuke ran over to Aragorn and Kenshin who were struggling with the flaming stone. Legolas grabbed hold of Aragorn, as Sanosuke gripped Kenshin by the arm. The orb easily slipped from Kenshin and Aragorn's grasps, before it had a chance to cling to them like it did to Pippin, and let it roll onto the stone floor.

Aoshi stood where he was, seeing the Palantir rolling over the floor with a horrified expression. Merry stepped back, as Misao recoiled, not wanting to go near the stone as it passed them by.

Radagast then picked up the brown cloth that he had wrapped onto the Palantir and handed it to Sojiro.

Sojiro quickly nodded, then ran swiftly over to the Palantir… and covered it with the cloth…

"Fool of a Took!" Gandalf ground out angrily, as he turned towards Pippin, who lay paralyzed on the floor, with his eyes open, staring into void.

Gandalf hurried over to Pippin, pushing Merry and Misao aside. The wizard took Pippin's hand into his own and pressed his other hand on the hobbit's forehead. Kenshin and Aragorn were recovering from the shocking ordeal they had with Sauron with Sanosuke and Legolas standing over them.

"Don't worry about me, Sano," Kenshin told Sanosuke in a little voice, as he pointed at Gandalf beside the paralyzed Pippin, "…Sir Pippin's the one who was most afflicted… that he was."

Gandalf whispered something to himself as he softly stroked Pippin's cheek. Finally… Pippin blinked his eyes, cringing and stuttering his cries.

"Ayame… Suzume?" Radagast implored the children as he and Megumi lay beside the two children who were paralyzed, as Pippin was, "Can you hear me?"

The children then blinked and whimpered in their own agony, unable to shake away the horror that they just went through. Megumi immediately took the children into her arms and tried to quiet their tears and sorrows. Omasu took out a lit candle and placed it into a lamp, so it would light the whole room a little bit, then went to Ochika, who held her foot, beginning to recover from her painful experience.

"Ochika, Master Hiko, are you two okay?" she earnestly asked of their well being.

"…I-I think so," replied Ochika, still in a little pain, "I'll be alright in a minute. Master Hiko?"

"Heh, you know me," answered Hiko, maintaining his usual smirk, "it'll take more than that to get me down… though I nearly broke a sweat back there. What about the kids?"

Omasu pointed to where Radagast and Megumi were, huddled over the cringing, and horrified children.

"Poor, poor children," said a sympathetic Radagast, "why did they have to do something so foolish?"

"The children had a rude awakening messing with that stone," said Megumi, with a soft and caring voice.

"Clearly, we underestimated these children," said Okina, "they were able to sneak in here and take the Palantir from the wizard."

"Let that be a lesson to me," Radagast criticized himself, "keep whatever is dangerous out of the reach of children. Okina, do you have something that we can use to lock the Palantir in?"

"Yes," answered Okina, "we have an old chest downstairs. I can use a simple padlock to keep it closed and safe."

"Very well," said Radagast, "Sojiro, go with Okina and help him to secure the Palantir."

"Children, can you hear me?" Radagast implored the children in Megumi's arms once more, "what did you see?"

"But it might be important," countered Radagast, "indeed, Ayame and Suzume were wrong for what they did… but as they looked into the stone, they may have also discovered some of the enemy's plans."

"He's right, woman," interjected Hiko fatefully, "…we have to hear what they've seen."

The frightened Hobbit went to close his eyes again, but Gandalf stopped him, reiterating his command, "Look at me… what did you see?"

Pippin hesitated for a moment before answering, "…I saw… I saw two wee girls… holding another black stone. They were dressed, in the same manner… as Kenshin is."

Kenshin gasped at this revelation. He went over to Pippin, hoping that it wasn't the children that he knew personally.

Pippin paused for a moment before replying, "…one had long, flowing brown hair. The other had light, sandy brown hair… with little pigtails."

'Please,' Kenshin thought hopefully, as he closed his eyes, 'don't let it be Ayame and Suzume…'

"…We saw a… a curly-haired man," stuttered Ayame, "…but he was short and bare-footed… he was holding a- a… another black shiny stone."

"…A tree… there was a white tree, in a courtyard of stone," answered Pippin, with horror still within him, "…it was dead."

Upon hearing this news from Pippin… Gandalf imagined to himself… of the white tree that Pippin saw…

"…Burning white tree… burning white tree," the children stuttered, " white castle burning … white castle burning…"

"…We also saw… a city on the ground," answered Pippin, in increased horror, "…it was surrounded by mountains all around. The buildings were all strange… even the roofs were strangely tiled. There were many shrines… many castles… a strange tower that's tiled like most of the buildings… and… there was a stone beast, in the city…

And Kenshin's eyes widened, as he pictured the city that Pippin described in his mind… a city that Kenshin had seen burning many times since the Revolution…

"We don't wanna be burned! We don't wanna be burned!" Suzume hollered out in tears, burying her face in Megumi's lap.

"Calm down," Megumi comforted the children in her arms, "calm down, its okay… its okay, I'm here now. We won't let anything hurt you, I promise."

"…Sauron's beginning to make his move more sooner than we anticipated," said Radagast apprehensively, almost to himself.

Radagast made no reply… but turned back to the highly frightened youths and implored a third time, "children… children!"

Ayame and Suzume slowly turned back to Radagast, with horror still present in their minds and souls.

"…I, I saw… w-we saw, "Pippin kept wincing and cringing in wordless, speechless horror, as everyone waited for him to answer…

"…We saw him!" Pippin squeaked horrifically, "…we could hear his voice in our heads!"

"And what did you tell him?" Gandalf asked, silently… but Pippin didn't want to answer, wincing even more.

"…Speak!" Gandalf added intensely to Pippin, urging the frightened Hobbit to talk.

With Pippin's endless pain of answering… he stuttered once more, "…he asked us our names."

"Did you tell him your name, Sir Pippin?" Kenshin asked earnestly, "did the children say who they were?"

"No Kenshin!" Pippin shook his head quickly, whimpering hoarsely, "we did not answer, he hurt us… he hurt us all!"

"…The bad man… scared us!" Ayame sobbed her pain of the torture she went through with Suzume and Pippin, "…he said, th-that there was no hope for our world! H-he s-s-said… he will be master!"

"I don't wanna see him again!" Suzume whined repeatedly sobbing also, in seemingly endless torment, "…I don't wanna see him again! I don't wanna see him again!"

Radagast and the others knew that they had to be prepared. Sauron had now targeted them as well as their world for destruction and elimination…

"Did you say anything about the ring, and who has it?" Radagast asked quietly, yet intensely, "…well!"

The children opened their mouths, but a little. However, no sounds or words were coming from either of them…

"What did you tell him about Frodo and the Ring?" Gandalf asked of Pippin as he laid in silence, trying to answer him…

A/n: another cliffhanger, people. Oh, and I apologize for using Ayame and Suzume as torture victims for Sauron. I hope you all forgive me for that. Its just that, if you were their ages and you missed someone you felt was like an uncle to you, wouldn't you want to try to see them again? That's what I implied here.

Rurouni Kenshin and the Lord of the Rings

Believe it or not, there's more, lot's more to come. This is a work in progress. Yikes!!!


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Rurouni Kenshin and the Lord of the Rings

Chapter 59: I See You, Ordeal with the Palentir.