Author's Note: Something basic but a little different from my usual in structure. I had to keep my mind focused on something these past days, even if it was this.

We're talking about young Soujirou in the first 2 chapters, so warning for psychological/physical child abuse.

EDIT May 2019: Kaoru Tanuki has translated this into Spanish! You can search for ' Creación en ruinas ' :) or try to type the link: fanfiction () net s/13299888/1/Creación-en-ruinas

Thank you!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, Watsuki Nobuhiro does.

Autumn, 1866

The wind that came gushing through the window wasn't cold enough to make him shiver, but the five year old child couldn't stop trembling as he waited, standing on the foreign room and not wanting to go to the improvised bed on the floor. Muffled yet loud voices came from inside the house. He held his own arms in an embrace to try find some warmth.

Why am I here? He sniffed loudly to try and keep back the tears, but it seemed to work the other way around completely. Why...

"Mother..."

"Damn brat is still at it?!" came the thunder voice from inside, sending him to the floor crouching in fear of being seen or heard.

"Leave him be, father. He'll soon shut up."

"Leave him be?! I don't have to deal with a whore's son! How could the old man send us that brat? Should have got rid of him when the whore abandoned him there."

"He technically did just that, father."

"Yeah, here!"

The words were clear even through the shoji screen, and he sobbed against his will. Were they right? They were his family, were they right? Why would they lie, why would his mother leave him if-

"If neither of you get him quiet, I'm gonna shove his head against a wall!"

His eyes widdened and he threw his hands to his mouth, almost painfully squeezing down his breathing until he thought he'd choke. What can I do? I don't want to be a trouble...

"I'm sorry..." he tried softly.

"Shut up, whore son!"

Falling down and curling up in the rags that were his bed this first night, Soujirou cried.

...

He tried approaching the lady of the family, hoping she might be like his mother. She was older than him, but he didn't know if she was his sister, his aunt or his niece, just that she was family and might be nice to him if he behaved.

With caution from shyness, he smiled and apologized for spoiling a rice barrel earlier that day, and promise he would do better next time.

The lady turned at him and blinked, surprised he even talked to her.

"What are you doing? Don't think you have the right to talk to me with such familiarity, I'm not a whore like your mother! Don't come near me and just do the work father tells you to!"

Soujirou's mouth gaped, no words ready for that reaction. Still, his tiny fist shut tightly despite the blisters on his palms.

"Don't talk about my mother."

The lady yelled and slapped him hard on the cheek, throwing him to the floor. It wasn't as painful as it was scary, for he hadn't been beaten before and the jolt, together with feeling the ground disappear from beneath his feet, drove immediate tears to flood his eyes.

"Why are you crying? You don't have reasons to cry, you stupid brat! Wait until father gives you some real motives to do so!"

Soujirou pulled his knees to his chest and cried.

...

Early Winter, 1866

The sting on the left side of his chest was so much he had to cry out. It was hard to breathe, and the cold also made his fingers hurt from trying to numb the pain. It was hard to see with the heavy clouds of smoke that came from his mouth, but he knew the tears were what made it worse.

Soujirou tried to get up and limp away to some safety in the barn, resting for a bit before trying to carry a heavy weight with that bad bruise over his rib, but despite yelling and ordering him to get to work, the man hit him so hard again he fell down, more snow splattering over the burning mark on his face.

"I'm sorry!" he tried.

"You want to work when Winter's here? I don't care if you freeze to death, but I need everything moved before that, you hear?!"

He wanted to go work now, but they didn't let him! He wanted to go but it hurt like this, would it help saying that to them?

"Teach that stupid boy a lesson!" the lady yelled and cheered. The whole family was there, and they were so loud Soujirou had to lift his face.

It was strange, but the scene in front of him suddenly felt funny. The man hitting him was drinking from a bottle of sake, and it ran down his chin like he was drooling. As everyone was yelling, the man with the pipe lost grip of it and it flew away, making the lady shriek loudly and then the other two men complained even louder about the wreck, so everyone looked the same for an instant, huge wide mouths with teeth bare and hairs untied from the wind.

Suddenly they were all so silly. How didn't he notice before? So silly!

"Ha ha..."

The man turned around.

"What the fuck are you doing, Soujirou? Are you mocking me?!"

"N-No..." but somehow his face didn't change. Maybe it had frozen? The very idea only made him smile even more.

The man blinked in confusion, but then howled and picked up a branch which had fallen from the early snow and Soujirou cringed with the antecipation of the pain. Why had he smiled? He was scared, not happy, and the man approaching was scary, not silly anymore. He just didn't want to get hurt anymore.

He was so scared. He hid his face, tears wetting his hair and sleeves, but obviously the man wouldn't go away. The branch left a throbbing pain on his back bad enough to make him fear moving, but the man let it down after another hit and left him there sprawled on the ground.

But somehow, Soujirou didn't stop smiling.

...

Spring, 1867

"There goes the Seta boy again."

"Was it me, or did his face look bruised?"

"Eh? I wouldn't know. He's young, he probably falls a lot. Haven't you seen him?"

Soujirou could hear the whispers, but just politely nodded to the working women when he passed by them. He liked the sound when they called him "Seta". Seta Soujirou, like someone with a great family and legacy to live after.

Odd, wasn't it? He was part of the family, so others wouldn't say or do anything about what happened to him, whether they knew or suspected. But he wasn't really from the family, which was why he was treated this way.

Odd, or silly maybe. Soujirou didn't understand, so he shrugged to himself and put on a smile. When he realized he was smiling, he suddenly found it heavy and he felt like letting it go and crying. But only for an instant. After the instant was over, it didn't feel as heavy and was actually easy to keep it. Some workers he found on his way looked at him and nodded, maybe thinking he was smiling at them. He shrugged again and carried on smiling.

to be continued

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Author's Note: Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated if you find anything to say.