Shigure x Kenichi

CHAPTER 1

"MIU, NOOO!"

Kenichi screamed as he came out of his nightmare. The moon was still lighting the half-destroyed courtyard, and in the doorway staring up sat Shigure.

Kenichi rose from his bed and walked towards her.

"You've... had a bad dream...?" she said, as he sat down beside her.

He hadn't spoken much to her since it all happened, maybe it was still too soon...

"Yeah... I just... I miss them... I miss her... and it's all my... my fault..." he said, fighting back the tears that threatened to burst out.

Shigure turned her head and looked at him, her light purple eyes shining in the moonlight. Kenichi could see they were bloodshot. She had been crying...

"Shigure..." he choked. Before he could react, she turned and drew him into an embrace.

She pulled his head closer and said, "You know it wasn't your fault..."

Overcome with grief and guilt, Kenichi buried his head in her breasts and began to weep. He hadn't let his emotions overcome him since it happened, but now it was like a dam breaking.

Shigure held him tight and rested her chin on the top of his head. She had been crying before, but now she felt she needed to comfort him. She held him until he fell back to sleep.

Kenichi woke with a start, the morning light pouring into the room. He was in his bed, but he couldn't remember returning to it. He looked down to see the sleeping form of Shigure leaning on the edge of his bed.

"She must have carried me here, and stayed by my side during the night." he thought as he brushed her hair away from her face.

Looking down at her, with the morning light shining in, he could almost imagine that nothing was wrong. She looked so peaceful, and yet he knew her dreams were likely just as bad as his.

"For now, the least I can do is return the favor." he said to himself as he quietly got out of bed. He picked her up gently, carried her to bed, and pulled the blanket over her.

As he turned to go, he kissed her gently on the head and said "Thank you." She shifted slightly, but didn't wake.

Kenichi walked out into the courtyard, looking over the battlefield from just two days ago:

That bastard had been stronger than any of them had imagined. He came in and killed his masters one by one until he came to them. Kenichi had placed himself in front of Miu to protect her, but he might as well have been a blade of grass for all the resistance he was able to put up. The man turned towards Miu and reached out with his hand. Miu tried to fight back but could do nothing.

"MIU!" Kenichi screamed, rage welling up inside him. Powered by his rage, he charged at the man.

"Oho! It seems you care for this one! We'll have to do something about that!" The man said while sneering at him.

With one powerful punch, the man sent Kenichi flying back against the wall, landing with a horrible crash.

He was down, he couldn't move. All he could do was watch, horrified, as the man picked up the struggling Miu by the neck as if it were nothing and took her life. Before she died she had looked at Kenichi with a strange smile as if to say, "It's okay, I give my life gladly for you."

An even greater rage overcame him, " MIU, NOOO!" he screamed.

Kenichi charged again.

"How does it feel, boy?"

SMASH! This time it was a kick that sent him hurtling backward.

"To have everyone you care about killed in front of you?" the man snarled.

"What... happened... here?!"

Shigure had been out hunting her father's swords, and just happened to be coming back at the worst possible moment. The look on her face was unlike any Kenichi had seen her make.

"Shigure... no..."

She looked at the man, full of fury, and began to charge him. The shuriken flew by him as if he weren't there, and when she jumped at him with her sword blazing down he caught it in his bare hand and threw it away from her with ease.

"No!"

The man grabbed Shigure the same way he had grabbed Miu...

"NNOOOOOO!"

Kenichi's rage finally boiled over.

"PUT HER DOWN YOU BASTARD!"

The man looked lazily over at him and muttered another "Oho?"

The man blinked, and in the next instant, Kenichi was standing two feet away, an immense and fiery aura billowing around him. The man got a curious look in his eye and tossed Shigure aside, still alive.

"How interesting... you have an even greater reaction to me threatening this woman... Perhaps even you weren't aware of these feelings..."

The man looked between the two of them, then shrugged.

"Well, no matter. With my next punch I'll sit you back down, and make you watch as I SLOWLY kill this woman you seem to care so deeply for."

Kenichi's aura blazed even higher while the man threw a massive punch directly at his face.

"Wha..?!"

The expression on the man's face was pure surprise when Kenichi caught his fist.

"I won't let you lay a FUCKING finger on her, you BASTARD!" Kenichi spat at him.

The man tried to pull his hand out of Kenichi's grasp, to no avail.

The last thing Kenichi remembered was the terror in the man's eyes. Then all was blackness.

The next thing he knew, he woke up to a darkened sky, with Shigure laying her head and arms across his chest. She was sobbing.

He reached up slowly and put his hand on her head, and she jumped.

"I... I thought..." She began...

"So did I." Kenichi replied.

Shigure pulled him into an embrace and continued to weep. It was all Kenichi could do to keep from weeping with her. He put his arms around her and tried to comfort her.

Over her shoulder he could see the battlefield. Sakaki-sensei... Apachai... Kensei... everyone... Even the elder known as the Invincible Superman... all dead... and there... Miu...

There was a terrible feeling in his heart, like a hole was torn right through it. As tears began to well up in his eyes, he saw something else...

The man who had killed them all, or... what was left of him. It was such a mess he could barely tell it was him, but somehow he knew.

Shigure finally pulled away from him, perhaps having spent all her tears for the moment, and looked him in the eyes. It was like she was searching for something, making sure whatever had possessed him when he tore that man apart was gone.

Satisfied, she stood up, offered her hand to Kenichi, and helped him stand as well. All things considered they had come out of the ordeal fairly well physically, though neither of them thought they would be able to recover emotionally. Not any time soon at least.

They spent the next day without speaking much. They built funeral pyres for each of the masters and Miu, and stayed vigil late into the night when the fires finally burned out.

Kenichi was the first to turn in, figuring he should at least rest.

Shigure felt herself being lifted by strong, gentle arms. She sneaked a glance, and saw it was Kenichi carrying her. She had fallen asleep by the side of his bed after she had moved him, and now he was doing the same thing for her. She felt her face begin to flush, so she quietly calmed herself so he wouldn't notice.

She then felt herself being lowered onto the bed, and the blanket being pulled up to cover her.

She felt something warm on her forehead, and then heard Kenichi say, "Thank you."

Shigure tried not to blush. She shifted slightly, and kept her eyes closed.

She heard Kenichi walk from the room, so she opened her eyes. She lay staring at the ceiling for a few minutes breathing heavily. These feelings she was having weren't appropriate but... so much has changed... maybe it would be... okay...

She slowly drifted back to sleep, Kenichi weighing heavily on her thoughts.